Get Outta here, Greenhorn!
by AcrossTheOcean
Summary: 1910 AD. Meet Cloud.  New to America and in need of a guide to his Uncle's ranch.  Insert Leon.  Cowboy and guide, stuck with leading our Greenhorn safely home.  Rated M.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hai people, this is Reyaa! So I quoted this in Kadaj and Marluxia's story, but figured we better repeat it here since there are more readers for the Cloud and Leon pairing. Here goes:**

**MATURE CONTENT: Rated M (Mature) have content that are suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Stories in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.**

**I know a LOT of you are definitely under 17 and while I can't stop you from opening this story and reading it? I just wanna tell ya that it's very uncomfortable to share lemons with people your age for someone (myself and alice) who doesn't blatantly ignore the M tag and is indeed of age to read and write such things.**

**Yeah, I'm totally scolding your asses. Now do whatever you want with this information, I'm not your parent after all. I just hope you're as mature as you pretend to be.**

**Now that I'm done with my preaching, on with the story, and don't worry, next chapters will be submitted by alice who will keep these A/N's more friendly ENJOY.**

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><p><strong>Cloud<strong>

Okay, pap zei dat ik af de trein moet en daarna naar de bar moest gaan om direktie te vragen... Wait. Think in English. I was in the United States of America now, and I didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb. Stepping off the train, I coughed at the dust floating up off the ground, tugging on my shirt to try and straighten it, which failed.

The boat travel had been so very long... Most of the time I'd been sea sick, thankfully there was a nun traveling with me and she hadn't minded to make sure I didn't choke in my own vomit. Then the train ride... That had taken a while as well, but it had been bearable. Unfortunately, my suitcase had been stolen, so I hadn't been able to change into those clothes my dad had given me. The ones sent to him by my Uncle Strife who's ranch I was supposed to take over. It couldn't be that bad, could it? They probably dressed the same here... Pulling my top hat a bit more firmly onto my head, I checked my vest again, grimacing at the bottom of my black dress pants as they'd caught the dust there... My shoes were ruined too...

From what I could see, the town wasn't very big, nothing like Amsterdam anyway... But my brother had warned me that nothing here would be like it was back home in the Netherlands. I needed a drink. Maybe after a good cold beer I'd be able to think straight and figure out who to ask for help finding the ranch. This America was huge. Nothing like my small country. Each town had train stops there...

Apparently my traveling wasn't over yet. It was quite a long way to the ranch, from what I'd understood, and no such thing as a train or boat could get me there. Maybe I'd be lucky and find someone with an automobile willing to get me where I needed to be. Right now though, I needed the town's bar.

I reached down to pick up my suitcase, but then remembered it had been stolen, so I set off and out of the station to get into the town's center, hoping I could find me that drink. Sure enough, I stuck out like a sore thumb... None dressed like I did, which was a tad uncomfortable, especially because people were staring. But I wasn't the shy type, no, I could ignore them, which I did, all the way to the bar which was relatively easy to locate. Standing before it, I frowned at the small little wooden doors, that weren't actually doors... I could see inside the bar, and all I had to do was step through the little doors, pushing them open. Why did they put them there if it didn't keep anyone out or in? Including the wind as it could pass right underneath or above. Shrugging my shoulders, I stepped inside, clearing my throat as pretty much everyone inside stared at me.

"Hoi." I said as pleasantly as I could, what with the guy in the far right corner glaring at me somewhat meanly. Managing to ignore him, I walked over to the bar, sitting down on a bar stool and taking off my hat as I remembered it wasn't polite to wear a hat inside a building.

"Funny looking hat you got there, little boy. Maybe you should take it and yourself out of here where you don't belong." The man said, his voice deep and booming. He was easily two hundred and fifty pounds, over six feet tall with a crooked nose and broken tooth. He wore a gun strapped down on his hip with a belt holding extra cartridges circled about his waist.

I didn't have a gun of my own, but I had this syndrome called 'big mouth and don't know when to shut up'. "You own this place? Because I'm quite sure you do not." Paying attention to the man behind the bar instead, I lifted a finger to place my order for that beer, but wrinkled my nose and jumped slightly as a large palm flattened harshly onto the bar before me. Okay, I guess he wasn't done talking then.

Turning and grimacing at his breath, I cleared my throat delicately, "Do you mind? I'm trying to order a drink."

"As if some wussy ass kid like you could even handle a drink." The guy snorted and I watched as he spit the tobacco he'd been chewing into the spittoon with surprising accuracy.

Spittoons... Couldn't they just spit outside? "What makes you think I can't handle a drink? I'm not a lightweight." If there was one thing... it was that the Dutch could hold their liquor. "How about we make this fair," I nudged him away from me gently, "Keep that gun away from me and I'll leave this place and never come back if you beat me at a drinking game."

Snorting and glancing around, he saw that most of the bar was listening in to our conversation. "As if some yellow livered kid could out drink me. You're on." Smiling, and showing me that teeth cleaning was apparently optional, he waved at the bartender. "You heard him, Hank. Drinking game." He sat down beside me, and I couldn't help but move over to a bar stool two spots further from him, nearly gagging at the smell of him. Maybe I was over-reacting, maybe I was a spoiled little rich kid from a foreign land. That's okay. I wasn't about to let his odor bother me while drinking though.

"Something wrong there, boy?" The tone was challenging and he was eying me roughly. Apparently he took offense that I took offense to his odor.

"Yes. You smell. Now stop trying to find ways to get out of this and lets start drinking." I reached out, grabbing one of the shots the bartender named Hank had poured us, lifting it and throwing it back in one gulp. "Keep'em coming." I said, smiling as that nice little burn settled in my throat.

"Watch it, boy. You'll be carried out 'o here, and not still breathin'." Angry now, he grabbed a shot and threw it back, cocky and arrogant.

I threw back the second and then the third, once Hank had filled it up. "What's your name?" I asked, "I wish to know so I can tell the tale of how I won against..." I trailed off, waiting for him to answer me, throwing back the fourth shot.

"The names Wil Hatchett. And what might your name be, boy? So I can have them put it on your tombstone." Laughing at his very lame joke, Wil drank the next two shots that were lined up for him.

"Cloud Strife." I shot back the fifth, "In case I do die, make sure to spell that with a capital C and not a K." And then the sixth.

Eleven shots later, I'm pretty sure I couldn't feel my knees anymore, but my head was still on my shoulders, yes siree it was... Wil on the other hand... I chuckled as the poor bastard fell off his barstool, face first on the wooden floor of the bar. "Can someone-" Hicup, "Help me breng hem uit?" Woah... "Bring him out."

Two people, who I figured had to be one person really as I was seeing a bit double, walked over, taking the right side of Wil, helping me haul the cowboy up as I took his left side. Pursing my lips, I grinned, hiccuped and then slid my hand down, snatching his wallet and tucking it into my vest's pocket. No way I was paying for all those drinks. Once the very kind doubly man had helped me bring him outside, tanked Wil's head in the water bucket the horses drank out of, I shuffled back inside, suddenly not minding the country music all that much... Huh... Okay. Blinking, I made my way to the bar, putting Wil's wallet in front of Hank's nose.

"That is for you, very nice man. Can you tell me where I can find someone who'd be willing-" That sentence was so long... "I need a guide who can bring me-" I smacked my lips together, wondering how they could be so dry after all that drinking. "Strife Ranch. Can someone help me get there?" I slurred out.

"Where the hell is Strife Ranch, boy? Never heard of it." Wiping out a glass the bartender set it down in front of another patron. "Listen, why don't you head over to the livery stable. Maybe that old timer can point you in the right direction."

I frowned, "What's a livery?"

Rolling his eyes, the bartender pointed. "The town stables, you messed up foreigner. Big building at the end of the street."

I reached out, patting the man's shoulder as I smiled, "Dankjewel!" I shouted, whirling on my heel and nearly falling in the process, but I managed to stay upright! Yes, I did! Once out of the bar, I spotted the building Hank had been talking about and then made my way over, wondering why the sun was painful to my eyes all of a sudden.

I made it there in one piece, although, I did nearly get crushed by a carriage, but that was besides the point. I'd jumped and missed it! Knocking on the 'livery' thing stable's door, I didn't wait for a response and waltzed inside, frowning as I wasn't sure what an 'old timer' was either.

"Can someone help me find this 'old timer'?" I asked, feeling a bit tired all of a sudden. I did not like traveling...

"What in tarnation are you doing walking in through a stall door, boy?" A tall sinewy older man came into my view, clothes worn and his facial hair white to match the bit sticking out from his hat. He was pointing, and I noticed that there was indeed a different place I should have walked through. A large open doorway, wide enough for horses to walk in and out of without bumping shoulders was in front of me and I looked behind me and realized I was standing in the middle of a horse's stall. Huh. "You ain't got the sense you was born with." He chuckled and led me out into the sort of large and wide hallway between the stalls and pointed to a bench. "If you're lookin' for a place to spend the night, you passed the motel about a hundred yards back."

"Thanks, sir," I said gratefully, sitting down on the bench, "I'm looking for 'the old timer'," Very good Cloud, keep going, "Who owns the livery stable thing. This is the livery stable thing. Hank from the bar said so." Hicup, "Can you bring me to Strife Ranch?"

Reaching up to stroke his short beard, he eyed me strangely. "Strife Ranch, huh. Heard of a Strife boy settling out west a ways. You got a letter or something to maybe tell you where to go?"

I nodded, that action nearly leading me to tip off the bench, "Yes I do!" I said happily, ignoring the fact I'd lost my balance and ripping the letter out of my pocket, "I was smart enough to keep it on me and not in my suitcase." I handed him the letter, "My suitcase got stolen, you know." I was still grumpy about that.

"Can't imagine how that could have happened." The old man read over the letter and nodded. "That's what I thought. Boy, you got a ways to go and only one way to git there." Handing the letter back to me, he pointed at the city on the address part. "That is a good week or two of travel right there. And as much as I wished it didn't, my conscience ain't going to let me just sell you a horse and point you in the direction." Pulling out a pipe and a rawhide bag of tobacco, he stuffed and lit his pipe. "You are gonna need a guide, boy."

I blinked, "That's a very good idea, Sir, I have no sense of direction and horses frighten me a bit. Do you know a guide?"

He snorted and smoke puffed out from his beard. "Shit, you're a greenhorn. And that is gonna make a difference on the time it takes you to git there. You able to pay a guide, boy? People ain't gonna just help you out cause o' the goodness of their hearts." Greenhorn? I shook my head, standing up shakily so I could move closer to him, pulling on his ear so I could whisper into it.

"I'm three quarters rich. I don't want to say too loud, or else I might get roughened up and I can't handle another drinking game to get myself out of that one."

"Easy boy. With liquor breath like that, you get to close to my pipe and you'll light up." Stepping away from me, he gently pushed me back down onto the bench. "I might know a man to help you out. But," He held up his finger and brandished it in my face, "he ain't a real talkative one and he's likely to put a bullet in ya, 'stead o' talkin' to ya. Git it?"

"You aren't very pleasant people here in the America, are you?" I nearly got beaten to a pulp, crushed by a carriage and now my guide was going to most likely put a gun to my head and I had to soak all that information up in less then an hour. "I'll be good, promise." I gave him my best smile, "Can I have my guide now?"

Chuckling he stepped back. "I can git him here, you gotta persuade him to take ya." Pausing as he gave me a once over, he said, "Use the money angle, boy. That might be the only thing that can git him to take ya." Without waiting for a response, he put his fingers to his lips and whistled. "Leonhart! Git over here and give an old man a hand." I grabbed my head, groaning as that sound was not pleasant to my sensitive ears, but then just as soon jumped off the bench, panicked.

"Oh no! I forgot my top hat!"

"Probably the best thing that could have happened. I'd stay away from them, if I was you." Did my ears explode? That didn't sound like the old guy's voice... Oh hey, that's what 'old timer' means. I chuckled, looking up and then shut up. A very, very pretty cowboy was standing in front of me. He looked a bit broody... Oh! He had to be that guide who'd put a gun to my head. My head was feeling heavy... Were my knees coming to live again? Blinking, I tried to get up, opening my mouth to say hello to my guide, but I think I passed out instead.

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><p><strong>Leon - The next day<strong>

Stomping the mud from my boots as I stepped up onto the boardwalk outside the hotel, I squinted to see if there were any strange horses tied to the hitching post. Nothing. Which didn't really make sense as I'd told the old timer that I'd be taking the stranger to the hotel after he'd passed out dead at my feet. Not really the best impression he could have made, but what could you expect from a foreigner who was stupid enough to wear a top hat.

I'd been set on letting him sit in the dirt, but the old man had told me his rather sad sob story. Apparently, he needed a guide to take him across the state to Strife Ranch, a place I'd never heard of but I knew where the town that he needed to get to was. I hadn't said anything, simply stared at the blonde spikes splayed out from his head as he rested on the stable floor and was teetering on the edge of saying no.

"Leon, you know this is the best way to git the start up you need. You ain't gonna find another chap like this one that doesn't have a prejudice against ya. You best be thinkin' long and hard about giving this here fella a chance. The pay ain't gonna be bad, and I can imagine him puttin' up the cash for supplies and everything." The old man had puffed his pipe thoughtfully. "Take him over to the hotel and set him up for the night. He ain't fit to converse with at the moment. Go on over tomorrow morning and talk to him and see what you think. But I reckon you'll be going along with him as there ain't nobody else round here that can help him." Nodding at me, he went out back to start feeding the horses in the livery stable.

True enough, I'd dropped the drooling foreigner off at the hotel, checking him into one of their rooms and laying him out on the bed before glancing one last time at those blonde spikes and leaving to get my horse. Seeing the strawberry roan standing three legged in front of the general store's hitching post, my supplies ready and packed up, I debated about leaving right now. How much could that foreigner possibly need my help? My eye twitched as I remembered him complaining about a lost top hat. He'd need my help bad if he didn't want to end up in a dry creek bed, bushwacked and dead.

First thing this morning, if he still wanted me as a guide, we have to get him properly outfitted and supplied for this trip.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the door to the hotel and checked with the girl at the counter and found out that he'd checked out and was eating breakfast in the dining room. Tipping my hat in thanks, I headed in the direction that she'd pointed me to. All I needed to do was find those yellow spikes sticking up and out of place...there. My spurs jangled a little as I stepped into the room and I saw him glance my way. He frowned, then looked thoughtful and then seemed to remember as he smiled and waved me over, sticking his hand out to me.

"You're the guide, if I remember right."

I didn't smile, but shook his hand. "That depends. I'm not running a charity." Dropping his hand and pulling up a chair, I ordered a coffee from the waitress as she walked by.

"I have money." He answered simply.

"Good." I grunted and took a sip of the hotel coffee, grimacing at how weak it was. Weak coffee was like weak men. No place in this country. Taking in the rumpled appearance of the stranger in front of me, I was seriously doubting the odds that he would even make it out there. "So, what kind of gear do you have? I didn't notice a horse out front."

He looked sheepish, "Lets just say I have nothing, know nothing and can do nothing, so hopefully the money will persuade you to take this on anyway." Shit. A greenhorn. And not some youngster that was willing to learn everything you had to teach. He didn't look that much younger than me, and from his clothes, he didn't seem the type to learn without making a giant fuss out of it.

"Five hundred dollars. Take it or leave it. Plus, you have to supply the gear that we need. I have my own horse and some supplies, but you will need to provide the rest." Hopefully that amount would scare him off. But...if he agreed, I'd be bound to help him.

His eyebrows raised, "Only that? Alright then." He offered me his hand again, willing to close the deal. Scowling and hoping I wasn't going to regret this, I took his hand, soft and white with no trace of dirt or calluses on it.

"The name's Squall Leonhart. But I answer to Leon most often. What's your name, stranger?"

"Cloud Strife. With a C, not a K."

Standing and ignoring the still almost full cup of coffee, I nodded my head at him. "When you've finished your food, stop by the general store. I'll be setting to gather supplies. We'll take the basics and just hunt what meat we can. After that, we'll get you a horse. The old timer's got some stock he keeps at the stable that you can look at." Turning on my heel I didn't' give him much chance to respond before I was gone out the hotel doors and back onto the street.

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><p>"Pack up that into my saddle bags, but leave out those clothes and the bullets. I'll have him pick out a rifle and six-shooter when he gets here." I thanked the young lady who was running the shop while her father was laid up with a broken foot, ignoring her as she tried to flirt with me. The blacksmith's son had his eye on her, and he only needed to work up the courage to talk to her father before I was certain they'd be married. They'd be happy together, and I chuckled as I imagined how much more efficiently she would run his shop for him. She was a hard bargainer, a born merchant just like her father. I'd never outwitted her when it came to supplies, that's for sure.<p>

The door burst open, the yellow mop of hair that belonged to the foreigner whooshing by as he quickly made his way into the store, giving the girl behind the counter a quick smile before ducking behind it. I was about to ask what the hell his problem was, but the door opened again, revealing an angry lookin' Wil Hatchett. He took a quick look around, tipped his hat to the lady and then exited the store when it was clear he couldn't find what he'd been looking for.

"Is he gone?"

"Yes, but what in the hell are you doing?" Frowning at him as he made his way out from behind the counter, I waited for his response. Not that it was a big surprise that he could anger Wil, a pigeon shitting on roof angered him, but I'd only been away from him for twenty minutes tops. If this was how fast he could get into trouble, I added it to my doubts about taking this job.

"Nothing!" He said, panicked, "I got off the train yesterday, went to the bar and before I could order my drink, that big," He turned to the lady, "He's very big..." And then he turned back to me, "Wil. He was threatening me. I'm half his size! I know how to hold my liquor though, so I settled it with a drinking game, making sure to keep all my teeth in the process." He grinned, "I won." And then didn't grin anymore, "But on my way here to the store, he saw me and I guess he wasn't too happy about my victory, so I ran because I don't want to drink again..."

"Go put these on." Shoving the set of clothes that I'd gotten for him into his hands, I pointed to the back of the store where a curtain was set up. "What you're wearing is never gonna last out there." He frowned down at the pile, but then did as I asked him to do, disappearing behind the curtain. Now we'd figure out if he was any kind of smart, because he seemed the kind capable of putting the pants on backwards.

A moment later... "These are comfortable!" Dear lord. Scowling at the curtain and ignoring the giggles of the shopgirl, I waited for him to finish. He still needed a rifle, a handgun and a horse. Hopefully, the old timer would have an animal that could keep up with my horse, as he was known for his endurance. The roan was probably one of the best horses in town and I'd turned down many an offer to sell him. I'd made some good money on the side using him as a stud, but most didn't want to pay the fee, they wanted to own the horse.

The curtain pushed aside, him stepping out from it, holding out the bullets far away from him, grimacing at me. "I don't like guns."

My scowl felt like a permanent addition to my face and I guess I should get used to it. This was going to be a long trip. "Most men won't harm an unarmed man, but where we are going? Some will put a bullet in your back and never bat an eye. And since I expect you to watch my back as I'll watch yours, you will get a gun and I will teach you how to use it. End of discussion." He stared at me for a moment, his teeth clenching and then he groaned, walking over to the guns in display, picking one out without hesitation.

"No need to teach me." He muttered. "What's next?"

I stared at the .44 Colt he'd picked out and nodded my head. Good. He wasn't a total waste of space. "I suggest you pick a rifle now. That Winchester will do the trick." The girl grabbed the rifle I'd pointed at and expertly checked the barrel and hammer for damage before handing it to Cloud for him to check over. Tying the belt around his hips, he hooked the gun onto it, and strapped the rifle over his back. It was clear he wasn't used to the clothes he was wearing a he kept tugging on them. He didn't whine though, leading me to think he might not be all that stupid.

"Now what?"

"Unstrap your rifle from your back. It will go on your horse for easy access. Leave it with the supplies and they'll be delivered to the stable when we've found you a horse." Assuming it must be different from where he came from, I just tried to ignore how he now looked a little less foreign, but that blonde hair was so crazy looking, he'd still stand out. Whatever. "Come on."

As we made our way to the stables, I realized that even with the proper clothing, he'd never walk the way he should around here. Then again, it might also be because this was most likely his first real sober moment in town, and he seemed to be drinking the surroundings in, nearly bumping into a cart along the way.

"Try and act a little less like a drunken fool while we're still in town, please. I'd like to get out of here in one piece." Ignoring him, I didn't head into the stables, knowing they would be empty right now, the animals most likely in the back corral to get some exercise. The old man, Tyrel, I think his name was, but everyone just called him Old Timer, he was leaning against the fence yelling at the youngsters trying to rope a mare.

"Dang'namit! She's smarter than you, apparently! Git her outta there!" I chuckled as the mare ducked the rope again and easily darted behind the cowhand before he could get his loop back in place. He'd learn. "Leonhart, fancy meetin' you out here." Slapping my shoulder, the old timer turned and glanced between me and Cloud. "You took the job? Good on' ya. Now, what can I do ya for?"

"He needs a horse, something that can keep up with my roan." I jerked my thumb at Cloud. "Preferably something this flatfoot can handle as well."

"I would appreciate it if you began insulting me in terms I can actually understand." He murmured absently, eying the animals.

Throwing his head back, the old timer laughed long and hard. "Whooo boy. He's a feisty one, ain't he?" Wiping his eyes a bit, he looked at me. "He's something alright." I grumbled, my eyes drawn once again to that strange yellow hair. Walking up to the fence, I swept my eyes over the stock inside. Maybe I'd let Cloud pick his horse. There wasn't a bad horse among them, and I was used to adjusting my animal's pace to slower ones.

Sighing, I turned back to Cloud. "Go ahead, pick your horse." I paused, "You do know how to ride, correct?"

"Nothing too wild." He allowed, stretching his arm out and pointing, "That one." T'was the Palomino, a mare. Sturdy legs, and definitely one of the best ones out there. Impressed despite my best attempts not to be, I raised my eyebrows at him in question. He shrugged, "She's pretty and doesn't look as mean as the others." Dammit. Scowling, I turned to the old timer and spent the next ten minutes haggling out a price for her and her tack. I wasn't too concerned about the cost. If something happened, we could always sell her and get him a donkey to ride. Chuckling at that image, I shook the old man's hand to seal the deal.

"You drive a hard bargain, Leonhart, but ya got yerself a deal." Spitting in the dirt, he waved at the cowboys in the ring as Cloud made his way over to her and let her sniff him. At least he wasn't afraid of horses completely. "Git that mare's tack for that young feller over there. Don't be skimpy on it either." Nodding, the ranch hands made their way over to the barn.

"What's tack?" Cloud asked loudly, smiling at his horse as he petted her neck, scratching her mane.

I thanked the old man again, and tipped my hat in farewell. "Good luck, there Squall. Yer gonna need it." I scowled as he used my real name. I hated that.

Rolling my eyes at Cloud, I made my way over to stand next to him. "It's her saddle and bridle."

"Why don't you just say that?" He grumbled, but then cooed the horse. "Hoi! ja, jij bent lief. Heel mooi meisje."

"Why don't you just say that in English?" I snapped back, annoyed that he seemed to have a way with his new horse. Although I didn't understand why that should upset me. It would make my life easier, but then again, he was complicating my life in general and that was just annoying.

"Sorry." He mumbled, staring down at the ground, absently patting his horse. "The America is a bit scary. Nothing is the same. Can't talk my own language." He smiled at the horse then, "I can with her though, she doesn't mind. Nee, jij vind that niet erg, he?"

"What language is that anyways?" Curious despite my best efforts not to be, I bent down to check her hooves for rocks or anything that might be a problem.

"Dutch. I'm from the Netherlands." He left it at that, not explaining where it was, clearly not doubting my intelligence.

"Her feet look good. You can saddle and ride, right?" Dear god, what would I do if he couldn't do that. Thinking about it, I should probably make one more order from the shop before heading out. He was definitely going to get saddle sore and if I didn't have some sort of cream or horse ligament set aside, I'm sure he'd complain about the soreness.

He crinkled his nose, "I do..." There was a but. "But would you mind just staying here and see if I do things right? I don't want to hurt her back if I happen to do it wrong."

"Sure." I watched as he shyly saddled up his new horse and I only readjusted the cinch tighter before he mounted. So, he'd obviously had some sort of experience, but I'd heard that the saddles were completely different in Europe. "That's good. Let's head back and have them put the supplies on them and we'll see if we need to get a pack horse."

Walking back to the store, Cloud following behind me on his horse, we let the shopgirl and her younger brother load up the supplies onto the horses as they blew at each other. I guess I should be worried about my stallion and the mare getting along and other complications, but since I was only going to be his guide for about ten days, I figured it would be his problem in the future.

A half hour later we were all set to go, and I mounted the roan, tossing two bits at the youngsters as a tip. Cloud did indeed have money as he didn't bat an eye handing over enough to cover the supplies and then some. The girl had given him a cowboy hat that he hadn't put on yet, but whatever. If he could stand the sun beating down on him, more power to him. Running my spurs gently along my horses side, he jumped forward into a slow canter as we road out of town.

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><p><strong>Cloud - Couple of hours later<strong>

It was a little while later when I'd finally been able to find the right position to sit in on this very strange saddle, that it occurred to me this Leon could very well be taking me into the middle of nowhere, because that's where we were right now, the middle of nowhere... to then murder me and rob me of my money. And my horse. I had a horse now too. There wasn't a farm or house or any type of building in sight, and although there wasn't anything other then grass fields to see, I couldn't stop staring in awe.

We didn't lack grass in the Netherlands, but we didn't quite have this amount of it either. Especially without roads, any type of roads. Then again, I was from Amsterdam, quite a large city, and hadn't ventured out much into the country. While being sea sick, I'd managed to be impressed by the never ending amount of ocean as well. My horse was a good horse, didn't seem to scare easy at all and she didn't make any sudden movements, which I was very thankful for. She was definitely not lazy, but not to nervous either. Just in the perfect middle. Reaching down, I stroked her neck, wondering what I could name her... It's all I could do to entertain my mind with really.

Normally I'd have chosen a name first ten minutes of the trip, but the old man hadn't been lying when he'd told me that Leonhart didn't talk much. He didn't talk at all, really. So, I'd dragged the name finding out. I'd gone through Julia, Karen, Naomi, Samantha, Lidewij, Anne, Dominique, Marjolein, Marie and a bunch more. It was getting a bit boring though.

Feeling the sun heat on the back of my head, I hesitantly pulled the hat the girl had given me at the store over my hair, pushing it down so my blond spikes wouldn't sneakily push the hat back off again. Pushing gently into the sides of my horse, I let her pick up the pace some, catching up with Leon. Now that we'd been riding for a good long while, I figured it couldn't hurt to try and talk to him. He couldn't turn back now. And if the old man hadn't lied, then at least Leon wouldn't have to worry about where to dump my body after having put a bullet through my head out of annoyance. This was the middle of nowhere. I could rot in peace.

"Are you married?" I asked, because I was nosy and still suffered from the syndrome 'doesn't know when to shut up'.

He scowled at me, no doubt being used to shutting people up with that look alone. "No." Well, that really didn't qualify as a conversation.

"Divorced?" Could they get divorced in the America? "Widowed?" I smiled, faking innocence as he glared at me. I needed entertainment and he was the only other talking thing in this place.

"Neither." Sighing in defeat, he glanced at me. "Get all your questions out now so we can enjoy the rest of this trip in silence." Should I tell him that I was capable of keeping up a conversation for weeks if necessary? Or should I just let him find out?

"What's wrong with you then?" I guess the latter. "If you're not married, nor divorced, nor widowed, something must be wrong with you." Not that I personally had anything against being single, but society started to frown upon it at a certain age, and I was pretty sure that, like me, Leon had reached that questionable age.

"Watch it, flatfoot." His tone was warning. "There isn't any reason for me to be married. I don't own my own land yet, or have a trade. The only real jobs around here are the ranch hands or becoming a marshal. And ain't looking to work for another man my whole life, and being a marshal has a life expectancy of a few months in some of these parts." He shrugged and looked around. "And I don't need some no account girl holdin' me back every time I wanna travel around."

"Oh..." It suddenly dawned on me, "That's why uncle Strife went to the America. Not to make his fortune, because clearly he didn't manage that, but to get out of his arranged marriage..." My parents must really believe I'm a lost cause if they didn't even want to try and marry me off anymore. Eh, whatever. "Does the high society have a committee? Ladies who take charge of marrying people off? They had in Amsterdam. I'd have been forced to marry a girl even if I'd been orphaned somewhere along the way."

He raised an eyebrow at me, a confused look on his face. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about. Does it look like I know anything about how society does things here?"

I laughed, "That is great! If you don't know, then they must be far away and won't be able to find me here. My parents were trying to marry me off to this girl who's father is my father's boss. I said I wouldn't marry any girl until I could pee straight." Which was funny, because what with having a cock and the ability to aim, I could pee crookedly forever.

Eying me warily, he just nodded. "You'll have to explain the reasoning behind forcing someone to marry against their wishes to me. That's not exactly how we do things out here. Although I've heard of instances back east." Reaching out, he patted his horse on the neck, checking to see if he was overheating.

I shrugged, "Money, mostly. Titles. My parents wanted me to marry that girl because it would have gotten my father a promotion. They had the money and we had the title."

He chuckled darkly. "Trading the title for money. I'm glad I don't have it then. Tell me, what do you plan on doing when we get to your ranch?"

"Good question. I have no idea." I smiled, "How old are you?"

"Twenty-four. You?"

"Twenty-two. What's your horse's name?"

"Name?" He sent me another confused look.

I send him a confused look back, "You know, a name. Like mine is Cloud and yours is Leon. I think I'm going to name my horse Kalinka. What's yours called?" I tried again, "It needs a name, or else how do you call for it? 'Horsie'? You'd run the risk of all horses answering your call." Would he smile now? He was such a broody man.

His cheek twitched and he shook his head. "My horse knows me just fine. He doesn't need to hear his name and I don't let him run with other horses. It's just him and me."

"He doesn't know me. What if I need to call him?" I wanted to know the horse's name. Not because I wanted to know the name, but because clearly Leonhart was having trouble spitting it out.

Rolling his eyes, he growled out, "Arrow. His name is Arrow. Happy now?" Again the side of his face twitched as he turned away from me.

I smiled broadly, "Yes, very happy. Now, Arrow, keep that cock away from my mare. I don't want to have to deal with babies when you set off into the sunset with Leonhart, leaving Kalinka behind as a single parent." I crinkled my nose, "That would just be unfair." Siting back into the saddle, I let Leon have his peace for a while, shutting up for the time being. "This saddle is really comfortable."

* * *

><p><strong>Later into the evening<strong>

"Godsamme!" I cursed, "This saddle is evil, I think it ate my assflesh down to the bone. Leon..." I whined, "I need a break."

"Fine." Pointing out a crop of trees along a small stream we were traveling next to, Leon led us over to them and dismounted. "I figured a city boy like yourself wouldn't be able to handle the pace much so I had the shopgirl throw in a little horse ligament. It'll smell like spit, but it'll help you toughen your skin." His eyes strayed to my hat and for some reason he scowled. Feeling self conscience, that having been the main reason I hadn't put the hat on right away, I reached up and quickly pulled it off.

"I told the girl that I couldn't wear hats like this..." I mumbled, leading Kalinka over to the trees quickly and once she was there, I slipped down her side, my knees buckling as my feet hit the ground. Then I fell on my ass, which led me to groan loudly in discomfort. Falling back into the grass, I rolled over onto my stomach so no pressure would set on my bottom and I chuckled as Kalinka stuffed her snotty nose against the back of my head. "Does your ass have callouses?" I tried to picture it, but it was tricky...

"You should really watch what you say about peoples asses. You'll get us killed." Sounding completely serious, he walked over and handed a small round pot to me. "And no. I've been riding since I was just a youngster. You'll get used to it before too long."

"Nobody is here." I pointed out, taking the round pot from him. "What am I supposed to do with this?" I asked, having an idea, but needing to make sure before rubbing anything on my ass.

The most amazing thing happened to his face; it turned a remarkable shade of red. "You, well, you have to, you know." Pausing he sort of motioned to his thighs. "Just a little bit will go a long way. Just wipe it on your skin and then put your pants back on. I'll leave you to it then." Nodding to me, he took a step back.

Pursing my lips, I tried not to laugh. "On my bottom, right?" Lets see how far his limit went...

"Yes." I nodded, standing up and throwing the round pot his way, which he caught, leaving me the time to undo my pants and let them fall down my legs. Now I was going to count the seconds for how long it would take him to throw the thing back. His posture stiffened, but he didn't give any other sign of being affected. Holding out the pot, he waited for me to take it, never taking his eyes off of my head.

I kept my eyebrows from raising. I'd have expected a baby cry of ridiculous man cooties. "Dankjewel!" I said pleasantly, taking the pot from his hands and unscrewing the lid so I could start rubbing some onto my sensitive skin. "So, what are we eating? I'm starving." I announced, closing the pot after having finished applying that disgusting smelling stuff onto my ass.

Turning back to the horses who were busily pulling up the grass around us, he cleared his throat. "Let me just get a fire going, and we can just have some bacon and biscuits for dinner. I'll see if I can take some quail or some rabbits tomorrow." His voice was low and I had trouble hearing him.

Pulling my pants back up, I asked, "Are you okay? You sound funny."

"You'd be better served finding us some firewood than worrying about me." Voice strained and rough, Leon didn't look at me as he unloaded a few things from his horse's back, including a frying pan and the hunk of bacon he'd bartered for us in town. Alright then, he was back to being broody. Shrugging, I turned and set off to find some firewood, but stopped in my tracks, frowning.

"What does firewood look like?" He turned and glared at me, eyes narrowed and mouth set in a deep frown. My right eye twitched, and I pointed a shaky finger at the gun on his hip, "You can leave that there. I'll figure it out for myself." I said quickly, whirling around to do just that.

I came back once I was sure to have found every type of wood available lying around, this way I could be sure one of them was the firewood he'd asked for. Peeking my head over the large pile of wood I was carrying, I sighed heavily, letting it fall down to the floor once I reached the horses and Leon again.

"That's plenty. And next time, you only need to worry about large pieces about this big." He pointed to one of the logs I hauled to him. "And we'll only need about two of them to last the night. Drop that one gently on top of that." He pointed to a very small fire he had going. "Start small, and then build it."

I took the one he'd pointed out, gently placing it on top of his small fire. "Who taught you all of this?" I asked curiously. My idea was his father, which was a nice thought. I had a father who wanted nothing to do with me. The only thing he'd indirectly taught me was by sending me to school. Good thing too, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to speak the English language.

"Sometimes experience is the only teacher." He said solemnly. "I learned a little from the cowhands I had to work with." Setting up the frying pan and slicing the bacon into it, he looked thoughtful. "I've been on my own since I was fifteen and most of what I learned was through trial and error. How'd you learn English?"

Fifteen? Impressive. "My father sent me to boarding school at sixteen. I learned English and many other things in those three years I spent there." One very particular thing I'd learned about myself, but, anyway... "What kind of land will you get when you can?"

He paused and looked off into the distance. "A large section, one with enough water to make it through any drought that might happen, and it will tempt the deer to come through. I would build a big house, two story with a fireplace in every room." Glancing back at me sheepishly, he shook his head. "It's just an idea I had."

"You could build a house?" Amazing... I smiled, "It's a very nice idea."

He sent me a small smile in return. "Let's eat and get some sleep. We'll start early tomorrow. And this is a good place to spend the night." Handing me a plate with bacon and biscuits on it, he settled himself back and started eating. I was staring rather intently at him, surprised to hell and back that broody Leonhart had actually granted me one small smile today. The smell of bacon is what snapped me out of it though, leading me to sit back myself, starting to eat too.

"It'll be fun sleeping under the stars."

* * *

><p>AN: Alice here. Thanks for reading the first chapter of our new multi-pair series. Updates will be daily and so far, there are seven different stories in total, with a possible eighth to be added.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Alice here:D Just a quick thank you to my best friend Reyaa for taking the time to explain a few things last time:D Anyways, on with the story!**

* * *

><p><strong>Leon - The next morning<strong>

I woke up just as the horizon was starting to lighten, grateful that the roan was as good as any dog to alert us to things. It was nice to get a good night's sleep and not have to worry about setting a watch. Plus, I doubt that Cloud could have handled spending half the night awake and aware. With the way that he'd been walking and whining about his saddle sores and then with how quick he'd fallen asleep, I knew he'd be pretty much useless for the next few days as he got slowly used to the roughness of travel.

Wiping the sleep out of my eyes, I reached for my hat and stood up, rolling my bed up and slowly stoking the fire. I figure we'd have coffee, bacon, and I had a few potatoes that I could fry up as well. Maybe I should ask him if he had any type of trail skill so that I wasn't doing all the work. Because dear lord, he didn't seem to have any type of skill except talking. He certainly had that down easy. It seemed that he never shut up, what was my horse's name, how old are you, blah blah blah. I suppose that things were different where ever he was from, but I wasn't sure he'd survive out here in the west with all that chatter he did.

He wasn't a bad rider, but he was definitely not used to trail riding. And I was glad that I'd gotten that lotion for him. Gulping and feeling my face heat up, I tried to forget about what he'd done. Dropping his pants right in front of me like that? It tested my resolve, that's for sure. But he certainly wasn't what I was, and I would be putting both me and him in danger if anyone found out about my tastes. I'd have to instruct him on what kind of things would get him strung up the nearest tree if he did that in any other company than me.

Trying to erase the image and forget about how attracted I'd been to his body, I focused on starting the coffee and heating up the pan for the bacon. As the sky got a bit brighter and the sun started peaking over the horizon, the roan's head snapped up from grazing and he snorted in warning. Cloud's mare shied to the right and I slipped the strap off of my gun and cleared my throat.

"Alright. Who's out there?" I growled and was glad that I hadn't picketed the roan. He was never one to tolerate other folks and he'd bitten and stomped on his fair share of people who got too close.

"Well, if it ain't Squall Leonhart. What are you doing hangin' around that foreigner?" I scowled and spat into the fire as Wil Hatchett came around the tree his hands raised in mock surrender.

"What are you doing here, Wil?" My voice was threatening and my hand hovered over my pistol. I wouldn't put it past Wil to think he could ambush us and leave us for dead, our belts lighter by far.

"How about you just leave outta here real slow like and forget you saw that foreigner out here. In fact, forget you saw him at all. He needs to be knocked down a few pegs." Voice mean, and his eyes narrowed with his lip curled up, Wil slowly lowered his hands, slowly enough that I didn't feel forced to draw, but it wasn't far from that.

Someone disagreed though, a shot being fired, bullet flying and knocking into the ground a puff of dust raising right between Wil's parted feet. I turned to see Cloud standing, his posture stiff, but shaky, holding onto his gun tightly as he glared at the mean cowboy before us.

"I missed on purpose." Cloud said to Wil. "Leave, because I'm going to let you, and the time it will take you to reach for your gun, is all the time I need to put a bullet between your eyes." He pointed the gun to Wil's head, but then lowered it, "Or between the legs..." He added in a murmur.

Wil's face blanched a pale white and his hands raised into the air. "Shit! Easy there, fella. I'm goin', I'm goin." I wasn't so sure though.

"How about you slowly loosen that belt and drop your gun before you go. Then I'll sleep much better."

"Sleeping under the stars isn't as comfortable as I thought it would be." Cloud told me conversationally, while Wil untied the belt slowly, dropping it to the ground. I didn't answer, just nodded and watched Wil closely, my hand never moving from above my gun. Sending one last furious look at us, he slowly backed up and walked towards his horse. As he mounted and kicked the poor animal harshly in the side to get it going, I let myself relax, figuring he'd finally learned his lesson. He was only dangerous within a certain distance. Above all, he was lazy and since we'd been within a days ride, he'd figured us for easy pickings.

"God..." I turned, seeing Cloud put the gun carefully down onto the ground, taking a step away from it while eying it with a grimace and a green looking expression. Gulping, he walked over to the stream that wasn't too far off, crouching down to splash some of the cold water on his face.

"You okay?" I wandered over to pick his gun up where he'd put it, checking the chambers and replacing the empty cartridge with a live one from my belt.

"I hate guns." He murmured, barely loud enough for me to hear.

"Why?" I shouldn't have asked, but the statement had left me rather surprised and a little annoyed. Did I have to do everything around here?

"My brother and his fiancee were shot." Cloud clipped out. "They're dead." He walked passed me, not looking as cheerful as he normally did. "I think my ass has rested enough. We can go."

"Yeah." I didn't respond because really, what do you say to something like that besides sorry? And that was really paltry when it came to something like the death of a loved one. I would know, I'd lost my parent's at a young age and there was nothing that anybody could say about it. "Just gather your gear and stow it. The horses should be full by now and the coffee's ready and the rest of breakfast should be done by the time you're finished." I dropped one more branch on the fire as I watched him roll his bed.

* * *

><p><strong>A couple of hours later<strong>

Okay, it was one thing when the guy was talking nonstop. It was an entirely different matter when he was eerily silent for the first half of the morning. It was relatively flat now, we'd gone through a few valleys here and there, crossed the same creek that we'd camped next to the night before a few times. I was keeping my eye out for any deer sign, hoping for a chance to add to our supplies.

Another few minutes of silence and I was starting to fidget, the roan flicking his ears back at me in annoyance. The silence that I'd so hoped for the first day was starting to grate on my nerves as I could tell that Cloud was unhappy about something and for some reason, I couldn't let it go.

Clearing my throat, I glanced over at him. "How are you doing over there? Need a break?" That's good. Just keep it simple and maybe he won't get an idea that I cared a whole lot, I just didn't want him complaining about the pace or anything.

"I don't need a break."

I scowled. "We can take a break for lunch, you know." He didn't need to pretend to be some kind of rough and tough rider when I already knew he'd hardly ridden before.

"I'm not hungry."

Rolling my eyes at him, I gave him a look. "What is your problem all of a sudden?" This was getting ridiculous and I didn't want to spend the next nine days with some temperamental guy as my only company.

"My problem?" He asked, finally turning his head to look at me, granted, it was a confused look, but at least he was making eye contact. "Aren't you the silent brooding type? I'd have thought you wouldn't mind my shutting up." The tone he was using was bordering on the rude.

"I was just wondering if you'd decided to spend the rest of the trip as silent as you have been this morning or if I needed to prepare myself for your ramblings later on." There was a reason that I was normally silent. Sometimes I just let my mouth run away without my brain and I became extremely rude and arrogant sounding.

He frowned, "If you talk to me like that, then you certainly won't get my ramblings." He sniffed his nose up indignantly, but didn't seem to be able to help himself as he added, "You don't deserve my ramblings." I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped me at how like a little kid he sounded.

"Ugh. You're..." He grimaced, "klootzak." He said firmly then, nodding his head before giving his horse a firm push so she would take off in a steady gallop. I didn't know what that meant, but I had a feeling that I probably wouldn't be flattered by it. Spurring my horse on, I went after him.

Nearly catching up, I was about to guide my roan before and in front to stop him and demand what that word had meant, but instead his laughter reached my ears. Looking back real quick, his eyes widened, but his smile broadened as he spurred his horse on, having no idea I could win this race with much ease, clearly. Deciding that his smile was a rather nice change, I pulled back, letting my horse stay a few lengths behind his. I didn't want to push too hard, I mean, I had a few more pounds of the supplies loaded on my horse than he had on his.

After a while, he slowed down, laughing joyfully, "We won." He said with clear satisfaction written over his face. "Can we eat lunch now?" Nodding and biting back the smile that threatened to escape, I pointed to an outcropping of rocks that had probably served as many a stopping point to weary travelers.

"That place looks good. We won't start a fire, just have some jerky and biscuits."

* * *

><p><strong>Later in the evening<strong>

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful and even I was weary as I spotted a good location to spend the night. Cloud's spikes were drooping and his mare was looking a little run down. Hopefully tomorrow we'd all be used to the pace I was setting a little better. The same creek that we'd spent the night next at last night was next to our campsite again and I counted on following it till the end of the week.

Dismounting and letting the reins drop to the roan could start grazing, I cracked my back and glanced at Cloud. "Feeling better?"

Sliding down his horse, his knees buckled again, which it would keep doing until he got used to sitting on a horse for a long amount of time. He wasn't used to it yet, so he fell, wincing as his ass connected to the ground.

"I've never been this aware of my thighs..." He muttered, lifting his arm then, smelling his armpit, grimacing and then getting up on wobbly legs. "Is there anything harmful in that stream?" He asked.

I glanced over and shrugged. "Sharp rocks. Why?"

He patted his horse and then reached for his belt. "I'll mind those then. I need a bath." He announced, dropping his pants down again without so much as a warning.

"Whatever." Really, what was he doing to me? Was this something that foreigners did often? Bathe in front of people or just disrobe without any regard for who is watching? Feeling extremely uncomfortable, I bit my lip as he finished undressing and got into the stream. Shaking my head to get it focused, I noticed a cache of firewood under a tree, silently thanking whoever had camped here before us. It was always a relief when I didn't have to search for firewood.

By the time the fire was starting to catch on rather nicely, I was about to set up the frying pan to make us some more bacon, when I was interrupted by a rather high scream, the kind a man shouldn't allow himself to utter in the presence of another man, really. Before I could make fun of him for it, I blinked in surprise as his yellow mop of hair and his very naked body, ran to the place I was sitting at, looking very panicked.

Placing a hand over his... nether regions, he then pointed with his other hand down at his leg. "Get it off." He pleaded.

A leech. Raising my eyebrow, I snorted at his ridiculous behavior. "What is the matter with you?" I licked my lips and reached down to pull the leech of of his leg.

He crinkled his nose as the it let go of his skin. "That is not pleasant." He informed. "What is that? Why does the America have strange creatures like this? Why do I have to wear a gun? Why are the saddles so hard? Stars aren't as pretty as they seem to be when you're lying on the hard outdoor ground!" Clearly he was frustrated and maybe a tad home sick. Grumbling, he crossed his arms and then turned so he didn't have to look at me, giving me a rather nice view of his backside, but...

"Cloud. You may not want to move. You have a few on your back." A few was an understatement. He had, like seven. His shoulders went stiff, his entire body did actually, while a small whimper escaped him. "Leon, I beg of you, have mercy and get them off me... They're not nice. I don't like them. All I wanted was to smell clean again!"

"Dear god. Stop whining. You're fine." Standing up and ignoring his rather bare backside, I slowly pulled the leeches off of his back. I didn't do it too fast, as he winced every time one was removed. "Relax." I murmured. "One left." Pulling the last one off, I tossed it back into the stream with the others. His back was now just covered in a few bites that were bleeding slowly. "Hold still." I walked back to my packs on the ground and fished out a spare bandana.

Glad that it was red already so I could just wash it out, I walked back over to Cloud still standing there naked his hands held in front of his groin. "This might sting a little, but I just want to get the blood off before you get dressed."

"Thank you." He murmured, the small shiver running down his spine when I touched his back making me wonder if he was starting to get cold.

"Well, get dressed before you get even colder." I muttered, face burning as I stepped back after quickly wiping him. I wasn't going to lean down and wipe his leg off, he could manage that. This was becoming extremely awkward and all I wanted to do was fall asleep and forget that in the two days I'd been traveling with him, I'd seen him almost naked twice.

* * *

><p><strong>Cloud<strong>

"Thank you." I repeated, doing as he suggested by quickly putting my clothes back on. Once dressed, I walked over to the fire he was nursing, sitting down right next to him, which led him to raise an eyebrow and me remember my... I'm not quite sure what at this point, but in any case, I gave him an apologetic look, blaming the leeches as I scooted over to a spot a little further away from him.

Well... That had been awkward. I didn't really mind anyone seeing me naked as I just wasn't self conscience that way, but my behind had been in his view a bit longer then I usually let it be around anyone that didn't count for a lover. I'd been thinking about that standing there then as well, which had led my thoughts to how handsome Leonhart was, which then had resulted in some thoughts I shouldn't have thought about while he'd been caring for my back. Thankfully a shiver could also be seen as getting cold.

I cleared my throat. "I know how to cook." I did. The family's chef had gotten sick of my whining on starving every morning before the family would wake and ended up teaching me how to bake certain dishes. "Want me to take over?" I asked, figuring I could do something as I was starting to feel somewhat useless. Mainly because I'm pretty sure Leon thought me useless.

"Feel free." He grumbled out, poking the fire and not looking at me. But he didn't seem to be mad or anything, just thoughtful. Letting the bacon sizzle, I grabbed the saddle bag I'd taken off Kalinka's back earlier, fishing out two apples which I then proceeded in slicing up, dropping the pieces into the pan beside the bacon. Taking the bread next, I cut that in slices too, and stuck them onto a stick in nearby reach, holding them over the fire so the outside of them could crust some.

"The cook back home used to make sandwiches like this, bread, grilled apple slices and chicken. I'm sure it will be fine with bacon too." Maybe my way into Leon's good graces was through his stomach.

"You had a cook back home? So, you were pretty wealthy then?"

I gave him a smile, "Yes, her name was Louisa. She made the best cookies and gave the best hugs." I think I missed her more then I did my parents. "We had a chamber maid as well. She was a bit clumsy, kept walking into doors..." I frowned at the memory of Lilly. "And a butler." I cringed at the memory of Adam, "He was very, very strict..."

He glanced up and stared me in the eyes. "Why are you here in America if you were so well off back home?"

I shrugged, "Not my choice." Pulling the bread back, I set it down beside me and then started placing the bacon and grilled apple slices on top of it. "I'm the second son. I didn't matter. Not until my elder brother gave up his place, my father had to turn to me then as his next heir to keep the family name going." That hadn't exactly gone as planned... "Zack, my brother, he ran away when he was supposed to marry Aerith, the one my parents had arranged for him to marry since, well, since they were born. He didn't even meet her, which turned out to be really stupid as it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble if he had."

I grinned at the memory of him. "My father then told me to marry her and take over Zack's duties. I was about too, but then Zack met Aerith by coincidence, fell in love with her and..." I looked at Leon, pressing my lips tightly together. "He'd gotten himself into big trouble while he'd been gone from home. Very big... Gang related." Why was I telling him all of this? "He begged me not to marry her, said he wanted to come back and do right by the family." I shrugged, "So I let him. Of course his gang wasn't too pleased with that, so..." I handed Leon the sandwich I'd made him. "The gang cornered them one evening. Shot them."

He nodded his thanks and took the sandwich from me. "I'm sorry for your loss. But, why did you come to America if your brother is dead? Shouldn't you be taking over for him now?"

I bit a bite out of my own sandwich, chewing and swallowing before answering. It worked with bacon too. "When Aerith died along with Zack, society finally found out what my brother had really been up to all that time, which led to scandal. My father tried to turn things around even if the family name was somewhat tainted." But then he'd seen me kiss someone I wasn't supposed to kiss. "I did something which... Well, it would have led to more scandal, so to keep that from happening, he sent me here, hoping that by keeping me away from him and my mother, our family name wouldn't be hurt more." I took another bite, "He'll probably give the title to a distant cousin of mine or something."

Taking a bite and chewing thoughtfully, Leon stared into the fire. "I'm curious as to what it was that you did that made him send you here, but it's none of my business. This is pretty good." Toasting me with his sandwich, he reached down and took a swing of coffee from his cup.

I raised an eyebrow, smiling around my sandwich and once I'd swallowed, "Leonhart can get curious? Interesting..." He wasn't going to hear what I'd done. I'm pretty sure that would result to a bullet between my eyes.

He scowled at me, the scar between his eyes crinkling up as the skin around his eyes tightened. "Whatever." Taking another bite, he chewed slowly. "Are you planning on settling here in America for good, or just spend a few years?"

"My father doesn't want me to come back." I said simply. "How did you get that scar?"

"I suppose I can share." Taking another swallow of coffee, he cleared his throat. "Thrown from a horse when I was trying to stop a stampede. I didn't know any better. Lucky enough, there was a guy who noticed and pulled me free before I was ridden into the dirt." He glanced up at my hair and looked thoughtful. "Has your hair always been that yellow?"

I frowned up at my hair, "So that's what had you staring..." I'd noticed him staring at the top of my head, but hadn't thought the reason for it would have been my hair. "Yeah. A lot of blonds in the Netherlands, very common hair color down there." This was fun... "Why don't you like to talk very much?"

Shrugging, he swallowed the last bite of his sandwich. "I just don't really have a whole lot to say to anyone. I do my job, get my pay, and continue on." Smirking at me, he asked, "Why do you talk so much?"

I applauded myself internally, feeling very satisfactory indeed as it was clear he was having as much fun as I was, what with the smirk he was giving me. "Opposite from you, I wasn't allowed to get a job as that would have been frowned upon. I am very familiar with the definition 'boring'." I grinned, "Talking helps me not be bored." Right, another question before he'd shut up again. "Godverdomme. I can't find any more questions."

He raised his eyebrows. "What does that mean?"

"Goddammit." I translated. "Do you believe in God?" I cringed as my mouth had run away with me again. That question could get me killed even in my own country.

"Should I?" Laying back so his head rested on his saddle, he crossed his arms over his chest. "I suppose I believe that there is something out there, something watching over us. I can't imagine that some of the things or amazing places I've seen could have happened without there being a God somewhere. But I imagine him being much less of a judgmental kind of guy than the reverend in town tells us he is." He paused and looked at me thoughtfully. "Why do you ask?"

"I was curious." I told him honestly. "I like the way you think of it. If you don't mind, I'll use your definition of it all from now on." My parents had been very religious... If I believed in God, I'd have to believe I'd go to hell for loving the way I did. And I didn't want that... It was hard enough to be the way I was in general, I didn't want to have to worry about hell too.

"It makes sense to you? I was run out of one town for making a comment like that to the wrong person. I figure that I try to live the best I can and that should be all that God needs from us." Chuckling unexpectedly, he closed his eyes. "I can't imagine how we got to talking about religion."

"Because I cursed out God's name in Dutch and you asked for the translation, which I then gave to you and that led me to ask you, in curiosity, if you believe in God." I needed to say that again to him, the last part. The fact that he wasn't getting angry at me for that question was really... refreshing. "The moon looks bigger in the America." I pointed at the sky. "The stars aren't in the same place either..."

Opening his eyes, he looked up at the darkening sky. "I imagine we are higher up in elevation then."

I nodded at the sky, "Have you ever been in love?"

There was silence and I figured he wasn't going to answer when suddenly his voice interrupted my thoughts. "I thought I was once. There ended up being a difference of opinion on something pretty major and I decided that I'd do better on my own than together." He licked his lips and glanced over at me. "What about you Cloud? Have you ever been in love?"

"Almost..." I returned. "I was pulled out of boarding school to attend to my brother's duties before I could realize if I was or not."

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><p><strong>The next day<strong>

I didn't really need to guide Kalinka, she just followed Leon's horse without my having to do anything, so... I was sitting back in the saddle, trying to put my weight on my lower back more then my ass, my fingers in her mane as I braided it somewhat absently.

"So, you spit, but see my point when it comes to spittoons being disgusting. After a lengthy argument, you agree that guns can sometimes be dangerous. And although you love bacon, you know you'll be sick of it around our fifth day of travel." I summarized all I'd learned in the last couple of hours. He didn't give me much, really.

"Which is why I'm keeping my eye out for tracks. I want venison or we'll have to buy some beef when we get to the next town. And I'd rather hunt my own meat than hope that someone was honest with how fresh their piece was." He said absently as his eyes scanned the trail in front of us. A town? I sat up in my saddle, disturbing Kalinka's pace some, which led her to frown up at me. I didn't care what Leon thought, I'm sure horses could frown.

"A town? You mean..." Please let there be a hotel.

"My half sister runs a boarding house and even though it's a few miles out of our way, I figure we could stop in and say hi, spend the night and renew some supplies." Twisting in his saddle, he glanced back at me. "That okay?"

"Leon." I gave him a pointed look. "You're telling me we're sleeping in beds tonight. That is more than okay." I grinned, "I could kiss you for it." With renewed energy, I took the reins and spurred Kalinka on, wanting to get there very soon. I smothered a chuckle at Leon's frown as I trotted passed him. "Don't worry. I won't."

"Whatever." Giving in, he clicked at Arrow and we increased our pace. Apparently, he wanted to sleep in real beds tonight as well.

* * *

><p><strong>Leon - Later that evening<strong>

I was glad that we'd made such good time to Tifa's boarding house. Sleeping outside was fine for me, but Cloud wasn't really trail trained yet and the less I heard him complain, the happier I was. He didn't really complain a lot, but sometimes when he mentioned things, it just reminded me that I couldn't push him and his horse as hard as I pushed me and the roan. So when he'd gotten all excited about sleeping in a real bed tonight, I'd let the roan set the pace, and he'd gotten us here in good time.

Tifa wasn't really my sister, more like my half sister as our father had been in a relationship with another woman at some point. Her mother had run the boarding house before she'd taken over and from what I remember, she'd turned it into one of the best ones in the state. It probably helped that her husband was the marshal of their small town, I'm sure. The dinner was better than I'd remembered five years ago, so she must have learned a few new things.

I sat at one of the tables in the back, nursing some whiskey and watching the place empty out. Cloud had eaten and gone straight to bed, looking pretty exhausted. Fortunately, this wasn't really a busy day, so we each got our own rooms and Cloud had gotten to use the bath house. I'd used it after him and dropped our clothes off to be cleaned. I stretched my arms and I hoped that Cloud was happy with the lodgings.

Cloud. He was certainly interesting to have around. Not only had he continued to talk, but he'd gotten me to talk back to him and that was rare. Not everything he said was completely random as that religious discussion we'd had the other night, but a lot of what we ended up talking about was things that didn't seem to have anything to do with this trip. I refused to let my mind wander to the other random things that Cloud did, like screaming like a girl and running around naked.

"When is it you'll marry a girl and make me a happy sister in law?"

Rolling my eyes and taking another sip of my drink, I stood to place a kiss on my sister's cheek. "Hello to you to, Tifa. And never, if I can help it." Women just didn't fit into the plan I had in my head about what I wanted to do with my future. In fact, women had never fit into my future life plans.

She gave me a small pout I'm sure worked wonders on her husband. "Don't you want any babies? They're so very sweet. You got another nephew, did you know?" She was scolding. "You don't come visit me often enough. That is very clear since I had the time to have myself a second baby without you knowing about it."

I gave her a surprised look. "Another boy? Congratulations, Tifa." I gave her my best little brother smirk. "And why would I need to have babies when clearly, you are doing fine in carrying along the family tree?"

She laughed softly, "You won't get me like that again, Leon. I'm carrying on Zell's family name, not ours." She sat herself down in the chair beside the one I'd been sitting in earlier. "Tell me, what's your companion's problem? He's not from here, is he?" She giggled, "He's a very funny boy."

I shrugged. "He's a foreigner, paying me to guide him to his family's ranch. I needed to get outta town anyways, and he's paying me quite a bit to take him." Grimacing, I took another sip. "As for problem, I'm not really sure. Why? Did he do something?"

She shrugged her shoulders delicately, tugging on her skirt to straighten it out. "I think he's the very first man to not flirt with me." She looked at me, giving me a curious smile, "Except you of course, but you're related. Did you scare him off? Tell him Zell's a marshal?"

"Well, yeah. But I didn't figure that would stop him." Thinking about it, I was just a tad confused by his behavior. "I suppose it's how he was brought up, I guess. What do you know about them European boarding schools?" They must not be like the schooling that youngsters got around here.

"Ah, he's from Europe." She nodded, "They say men are more gentlemanly in that corner of the earth." She grinned, "I'm sure it's a very big lie, unless we base it upon the foreigner's behavior. As for boarding schools..." She looked thoughtful, "If they're anything like the ones we have here, then they learn languages, astronomy, literature, history..." She smiled wistfully, "I'd send my boys to one of those places if I didn't need them around here." She looked at me then, getting back to my question, "From what I understand, schools are an option given to those with money in Europe. They teach them how to behave in society. Girls don't go to school there though, they are taught by their mothers at home. How to set a table, how to host a party, how to behave when being courted..." She listed, trying to think of every little thing. "Boys are the only ones who get to go to school there."

But then how was it Cloud had almost fallen in love? Unless...Keeping the question light, I asked, "So, they have female teachers like they do here?"

Tifa shook her head. "Oh no. Women aren't valued the same there as we are here. Boarding schools are men only. A woman couldn't teach a man in Europe." She scoffed, clearly finding that ridiculous.

Trying to keep the shock I was feeling off my face and out of my voice, I nodded. "You don't say..." It couldn't be. No, Cloud couldn't have been saying that about himself. That would just be wishful thinking. Right? Or did he, like me, find himself attracted to men instead of women? "Well, I better turn in. I'll see you tomorrow morning before I leave, right?"

"Good night, brother dearest. And yes, make sure to give my new baby a kiss and your approval. Zell will appreciate it." She stood, smoothing out her dress, leaning down and giving my cheek a kiss before walking away to attend to her other customers most likely.

Throwing back the rest of the whiskey, I got up and headed to bed. This was certainly something to think about anyways. I couldn't decide if Cloud was the type that liked men or if his foreignness was the reason for his behavior. Taking my boots off and dropping them to the floor, I climbed into bed and lay there for a few minutes thinking about it some more. I'd experimented with men a little, one man in particular had been my lover for a few months before caving to social pressure and got married. That had been hard. He'd been a good friend before that and to lose that friendship had really made me think twice about letting myself get into any type of relationship. The idea of one man loving another was completely foreign to most civilized folks, but some Indian tribes had braves who would take another brave instead of a squaw. I'd worked and fought alongside some like that and it made sense to me.

But what was really on my mind was Cloud. Was he like me? And if he was, what would I do about it? I'd only be around him for the next week, and then he was...well, I'm not sure what he would do when he got to his ranch, if he would need help or what we could expect when we got there. Rolling over and closing my eyes, I willed myself to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Cloud-The next day<strong>

"That was a very sweet baby." Oh wait, no... "That was one cute babe." I twisted my lips around to say that the way the people in this part of the world would say it, trying to sound like them. "It's very tiring to speak like you people do." I confided, guiding Kalinka after Arrow as Leon brought us over to a place he deemed right for us to take a break. We'd left early in the morning, much to my despair.

Leon wanted to get a move on, and so he'd pretty much kicked me out of bed, telling me to hurry as we couldn't waste any more time. I thought wasting time in a bed that comfortable was a great idea, but my opinion didn't matter, clearly... So I'd gotten up, helped Leon pack up our stuff, cooed at his half sister's baby when I thought Leon hadn't cooed at it enough, and then we'd set off and out of town, picking up the road again.

My ass was starting to get used to it all a bit more, which was good, but I still had a long way to go before I could say I was a true cowboy. Not that I wanted to really be one, I kind of liked being a snobby little second son rich kid.

"We git food now, ain't I right?" I chuckled at how my voice sounded, greatly amused with my new found way to entertain myself as Leon had been somewhat quiet this morning.

"With hair like that, you'd be better served to sticking with your regular accent. People might think you've gotten too much sun if they hear you talking like that." Leon smirked back at me, and dismounted next to the same creek that we'd been sticking close to these past few days.

I pursed my lips, figuring he was most likely right, but this was quite a bit of fun. "It's funny you mention that, hair gets lighter in the sun, yet from where I come from, we barely git any." I grimaced as that had been hard to get out. "I think my tongue is mad at me." I said, grinning as I slid down Kalinka's side. My knees didn't buckle! "My legs are strong!" I shouted happily, patting my horse on her neck and letting her eat some grass as I walked after Leon. "So, what are we eating?" I asked, giving up on the accent thing for now.

"Thought I'd catch us some fish. Sound good?" He removed Arrow's saddle and let the horse start to graze.

I frowned, "Sure, but you don't have a fishing rod." I pointed out. "Do you have a net?"

Sending me a weird glance, he shook his head. "Why don't you start a fire and I'll be back." He stripped his shirt and boots off and walked into the middle of the creek.

I was about to tell him I would do that, but I choked on my words as my eyes fixed on the naked expanse of skin he'd suddenly revealed. That was a lot of man chest to soak in... Very pretty man skin. I hadn't had any type of sexual activity in a while. It was very rude of Leon to remind me of this particular piece of information. Sitting down, I decided to watch him catch a fish, not able to remember what he'd wanted me to do.

"How are you going to catch the fish?" I asked curiously. I wasn't staring because he was half naked, I was staring because I wanted to know how he was going to do this. Right?

He tossed his hat onto the bank and looked at me as he bent over. "With my hands. How many do you want?" Suddenly darting forward, he grabbed something and stood up, a large fish in his hand that he tossed onto the bank.

Ass... I shook my head, "You're just going to let them suffocate?" I asked, eying the fish trying to bounce back into the water with a bit of sympathy. "They are pretty big. Maybe two more?" Only one more was needed, truly, but it was nice when he bent over.

Slicking back his hair with water, he glanced at me and nodded with a smile. "Can do." Bending over again, he moved to a little more upstream, his eyes darting around looking for more fish. "And you are welcome to start gutting it if you want. Or just bash it's head with a rock."

"Huh?" I gulped, blinked and then shook my head out of my stare again. "What?" Rock, bash... Water droplets were running down his back... "Wait, you want me to bash it's head in?" How rude... Crinkling my nose, I stood and walked over to the fish that was still bouncing, just less vividly now that it had been out of the water for a while. "Well..." I knelt down beside it, grabbing a rock, "I suppose it's less cruel to end it's life quickly." Pressing my lips tightly together, I frowned down at the fish, "I'm very, very sorry." Cringing as I brought the rock up, ready to bash it's head in, "But we're hungry." Closing my eyes, I crushed it's head. "Please be dead..." Opening my eyes, I saw Leon had tossed a second one my way. Sighing, I shuffled over to it, and this time, killed it quickly without words. "Maybe two is enough." I muttered.

"I'll just get one more and we can share that one." He quickly caught the last one and walked it over to me, climbing the bank with no difficulty. Dripping wet still with his pants clinging to his body, he dropped the fish in front of me. "Did you get the fire going?"

I was too busy drinking you in. "I wanted to see how you would catch the fish. I did kill these two though," Moving over to the third, I crushed it's head too. "There. You can gut them while I start a fire." Keeping my eyes down, I got up onto my feet, avoiding looking at him, as from this close he'd surely notice me staring if I allowed myself to do this. Which I really wanted too, because Leon was one very gorgeous man... "Fire!" I said to distract me from my thoughts, sprinting over to a spot further away from him, picking up some wood as I went.

Grabbing a large knife from his pack, he quickly gutted the fish, tossing the entrails into the stream and rinsing them off. Not bothering to get dressed or put his boots back on, he grabbed some sticks and put the fish on them.

"Need some help?" I had been trying to knock the stones together, get a spark going and light the little pile of wood I'd assembled, but... Frowning, I gave Leon the stones.

"I think my head fried in the sun..." He had to put his shirt back on. Clearly I was useless when this man was partially naked.

Chuckling, he leaned over and expertly struck a spark, blowing on it and catching the pile of wood I'd stacked on fire. "I'll grab some salt and a pack of spices that I got from Tifa so they don't taste so bland." Turning around, he walked back to his pack and dug around for a minute.

This was ridiculous... I'd never been this attracted to anyone before. I'd known Leon was a handsome man, and I'd been aware that if the world wasn't so judgmental and Leon was into men as well, I'd have told him just how much I liked looking at him. But since that wasn't the case, maybe I should just put a bullet through my brain before I did anything obvious and stupid which would lead Leon to realize I wasn't like most men. Groaning, I let my body drop to the ground, I flipped over onto my stomach, closing my eyes so I didn't have to see him partly naked anymore.

"Cloud?" Leon's voice sounded worried, and I sensed him standing over me. "Are you okay?" His hand was suddenly touching my back, rubbing circles over it.

My breathing hitched, goosebumps covering my skin entirely, shivering beneath his touch. What was he doing? "I-" I wasn't very surprised I couldn't form words right now. As far as I knew, men didn't touch other men like this. Wide eyed, I lifted my head from the ground, looking over my shoulder so I could give him a small nod.

Still rubbing my back, he sat down on the ground next to me, his legs crossed. "Is your back okay? I know I pushed us pretty hard these past few days."

Why wasn't he stopping? I'd shown him I was okay... If he kept going, I wouldn't be responsible for my actions. "I'm starting to get used to it." I murmured, biting my lip as I averted my gaze from him. It was clear he wasn't uncomfortable being this close to me... Should I lie and tell him it made me uncomfortable? I suppose I was a tad, but not for the regular reasons. I was in discomfort because I quite liked his hands on me.

"Yeah, I've noticed..." His voice was low and his hand still wasn't stopping, if anything, it was massaging a little firmer now. "You're doing a bit better at riding in that sort of saddle."

Gulping, my eyes started to droop closed, my body really liking the attention he was giving me. "I suppose..." At this point I was only talking because I figured that would make this situation less strange. If we stopped talking now, then I'd start to wishfully think about Leon liking men too, and although his current actions sort of backed that theory up, it wasn't exactly something you could just ask...

"Hey, Cloud? Can I ask you again what you did that made your father send you here?" My eyes popped open, my body stiffening. He knew. He had too. Swallowing nervously, I rolled away from him, sitting up, crouching and then standing as I licked my lips.

"I..." If I denied him the answer, that would only lead to more curiosity. I could lie, but what had just occurred sort of made that obvious if I did. Also, I don't think I actually wanted to lie... Shoving my hands into my pockets, I took a couple of steps back to put some distance between me and him in case he'd be outraged like my father had been. "He saw me kissing a man." I mumbled, wondering where my horse was in case I needed to get away from here, fast.

"And did you enjoy it?" Leon's gaze was intense and his voice was soft, and just a little hopeful.

Why did he sound hopeful? "Yes..." I got out shakily, feeling rather bare right now. "Are the... Ehm, the fish?" I did not like stuttering, "Can we eat?"

"Yeah. I guess." Turning back to the fire, Leon got up and checked the fish before quickly handing me one of the branches they were speared on. "Try not to burn your mouth." His eyes traveled from my hair down to my lips and back to my eyes. "They're hot."

My eyes were round, my posture stiff still as I couldn't seem to kick myself out of what had just taken place. He wasn't angry, not at all, the opposite almost, right? No... Yes. I couldn't be sure... Then why had he sounded hopeful? And men didn't stare at another man's lips, or hair for that matter. Why wasn't he telling me I was an abomination or something? My father had...

"You're not disgusted?" I asked, curious more then scared now.

Shaking his head, he took a bite. "No. I don't think I am at all." Staring straight into my eyes for a moment, he took another bite before turning back to look at the fire. Looking at him, I absently took a bite from my own fish, trying to understand and stabilize everything that had just been said to make sense out of it. There was one thing that I wouldn't be able to let go...

"That's peculiar. The only other person who wasn't disgusted with me for this, was the man that kissed me." Tilting my head, I focused on his facial features, hoping I could read something off them when he'd heard me point this out.

Shrugging without looking back at me, he swallowed another bite. "It makes sense."

"Leon?" I started, taking another bite, chewing and then swallowing. "What was the name of the person you thought you loved but because of differences of opinion, you realized you didn't?" Now I better hope it isn't a name that could both work on a man and a woman.

"His name was Irvine. He got married to the girl his parent's had pushed him towards. I haven't seen him in years." Finished with his first fish, he tossed the branch onto the fire and leaned back, resting his head on a tree.

His, he, him... "That must have been upsetting." I said, continuing with my own fish, trying to act as normally as I could while absorbing what I'd just learned. Leon liked men. I opened my mouth to ask more, but then frowned, sitting back some myself and returning my attention to my food as I most likely would need a moment to get used to this reality. He just hummed in response and closed his eyes, looking relaxed.

* * *

><p>AN: Hope you liked it! CLIFFHANGER! MWAHAHA!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Yeah, I don't really have anything to say in these authors notes. Love the reivews, and if I wasn't so lazy this week, I'd have replied to them already:D But rest assured, they will all get answered by Friday. Later:D**

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><p><strong>Leon - Later that same day<strong>

Lunch had ended rather awkwardly; we didn't really speak much after we both sort of realized that the other liked men in that way. I hadn't really known what to do and the more I thought about it, the more I really didn't want to do anything about it. So we both like men. That didn't mean that we automatically liked each other. It had been rather interesting though to sort of hint at it with him. Taking off my shirt and massaging his back. I blushed at the thought. I'd never been that familiar with someone before, not even Irvine. Maybe it was all the talking that Cloud had forced out of me that made me seem so comfortable with him. Plus the fact that I'd been completely certain by that point that he liked men. He hadn't really been discreet in his staring.

Needless to say, I figured that the rest of the trip would be spent in awkward silence. Simply stopping near the river again at a likely camping spot, I dismounted and set about getting a fire started. I'd make a stew tonight; Tifa had gotten us some vegetables that wouldn't last too long so might as well use them now. Taking the bag that contained the food, I turned around to start on it, but was stopped in my tracks as Cloud had been standing right behind me apparently, now blocking my path unless I moved to the side and around him. He was standing very close, actually... I frowned as he reached up, about to ask him what he was doing, but his fingers gripped the edge of my hat, tugging on it.

"It was crooked." He murmured, giving me a sheepish smile before stepping aside so I could continue on with my business. A bit confused with his actions, I looked over my shoulder back at him, just in time to see him grimace, smacking the heel of his palm against his forehead, his left foot stamping into the ground as he seemed frustrated with himself. "Oen." He muttered, shaking his head before moving back to his horse to get the saddle off her back.

I wasn't sure what I should do, but my body was used to going through the motions and before I'd been aware of it there was a stew bubbling in front of me and my mind was still on Cloud's action. It reminded me of when woman would approach me in the towns taverns, touching my hat and jacket trying to get my attention.

"Cloud, food's done." I looked around to see where he'd gone to. He nearly startled me as he suddenly appeared on my right, sitting down close beside me, a frown settled between his eyebrows. He took a cup, reached over and then dipped it into the hot pot, getting himself some stew which he then proceeded in drinking and eating carefully, a frown still on his face.

"What am I supposed to do with a ranch?" He suddenly asked.

I glanced at him and took a couple bites of stew before answering. "You could live and work on it. Or you could sell it." Thinking about it, I wondered. "Have you ever been there or do you know anything about it?"

He shook his head, "Never been in the America before and all I know about it, is that it's huge and my father laughed at me when I said I could try and take care of it myself. He just expects me to sell it and move to a city." Cloud shrugged, "I like cows." That was random... "Maybe my uncle had some cows. I can put cows on a ranch, right? Maybe some more horses so Kalinka has a couple of friends." He sighed, "Contrary to my family's belief, I don't like the city very much. The boarding house was out of town, very secluded. I liked it there even though we weren't allowed to go outside the gate. If I knew what to do with a ranch, I'd try and learn."

"I'm sure your uncle or whoever, has ranch hands running the place. And seeing as where it's located, it's probably a cattle ranch anyways. Lots of cows, probably two cattle drives a year and you'll probably be able to leave most things to the foreman. I wouldn't worry too much about it." I tried not to be jealous of his situation. I'd been saving for my own place for a few years now and so far I hadn't found it.

"Oh, well, I do know that my uncle died about six, seven years ago. From what I understand, the ranch is abandoned and needs to be put back in order from scratch." He frowned, "My father couldn't get it sold because of the state it was in. Apparently the roof caved in and there's mold in the stables, making the beam work weak and unsafe." He cringed, giving me a wary look, "Is there a school that could teach me how to rebuild stuff?"

I shook my head and swallowed thoughtfully. "You'd be better off hiring someone to help you. And I'd be worried about more than the state of the buildings. Do you have the deed to the place? Proof that you own it?" He'd be lucky if someone hadn't settled on it cause some sort of a land dispute.

"I do. It's in one of my saddle bags." He said happily, the smile fading as he thought things over. "You don't think people have taken over the land, do you?" He worried his bottom lip, "That would be awfully rude... And where do I hire someone to help me?" Finishing up his stew, he placed his cup between his feet and then leaned back onto his palms, giving me an expectant look.

Drinking the last of mine as well, I shrugged. "Any cowhand worth anything should be able to handle the building part. I'd just ask the nearest general store if they know of anyone." Most cowboys and ranch hands had to stop and stock up somewhere, and they usually chatted around to see if anyone was hiring.

"Now I kind of wish school had taught me things I could actually use..." He murmured, averting his eyes from me so he could look at the fire instead. "I don't think piano playing or reading a book will help me much concerning the ranch." For a moment I wondered if the pink tint on his cheeks was the result of the fire's warmth, but I got distracted by his fingertips hesitantly bumping into my own. He didn't settle his hand on top of mine, but neither did he pretend the action to be an accident as he just left his hand settled there.

My heart was beating fast and I could feel my face heat up. What was he doing? Was that supposed to mean something and if so, what should I do? With Irvine, I couldn't really remember how it had all started. Scratch that. I knew exactly how it had started and it involved a few bottles of whiskey and us being snowed in for a week. But I didn't remember who had made the first move, but this was something new and different.

I had a feeling Cloud was unsure about what to do as well, but he at least was making some type of effort to try something. Was I willing to try it? Deciding that I was curious about what Cloud was thinking, I gently moved my hand on top of his without looking at him. I held my breath and waited. From the corner of my eye I could see him turn his head in surprise, but then just as quickly moved his gaze back to the fire, his Adam's apple bobbing before I felt him flip his hand under mine, connecting our palms and shyly lacing his fingers through my own. I heard him let out a shaky breath, his palm a bit sweaty.

Unsure of what to do next, I just sat comfortably next to him, our fingers intertwined and my heart racing. It had been quite a while since I'd been involved with a man and I guess this was the ideal situation. We were alone out here, no one around and it was a pleasant night, not cold at all. It would be up to Cloud though. Holding hands was one thing, doing more was something different all together.

"Cloud?" I whispered out, still not facing him, but hoping that he'd understand what I meant when I said his name.

He chuckled, "I don't think my ass can handle much more..." He cleared his throat, "Riding." He mumbled out, his face burning as he pulled his hand free, but only so he could sit up and move his body to face mine. His eyes were huge as he looked at me, his tongue slipping out to wet his lips and he reached up with one of his hands to tuck his hair nervously behind his ear. "But..." He looked down to the ground, then lifted his eyes so he could stare at my lips. "Should we?" He asked all the while his body leaned in closer towards me.

Unable to stop myself, I leaned forward my eyes entranced by his blue ones as I got closer to his face with mine. "Why not?"

He grinned. "A bunch of reasons just appeared in my mind, and I was almost going to list them..." He trailed off, his voice going soft and more serious towards the end of his sentence. Tilting his head some to the side, he inched closer, his eyes giving me one last careful glance before they hooded over, his breath against my skin and then he shyly pressed his closed lips against mine.

They were warm and I didn't move right away, content to simply breathe him in and enjoy how close he was. It was different than other kisses I'd received. Granted, Irvine hadn't really been big on kissing, in fact, besides the drunken ones we'd shared, we hadn't kissed at all.

Closing my eyes and pressing forward, I slowly moved against his lips more and my hand slowly reached up to rest against the back of his neck. His hair, that yellow hair that had drawn my eye from day one, was soft and I started running my fingers through the spikes. A soft hum of appreciation came from him and I felt his hand rest lightly on my shoulder while he let his mouth part, the tip of his tongue tracing my bottom lip, all his actions still very shy and hesitant.

I shakily took a breath and wrapped my arms around his shoulders as my lips opened slowly, my tongue sliding out to meet his. He tasted sweet somehow, even after the stew I'd made and I used the hand on his neck to tilt his head to the side so I could deepen the kiss.

Shuffling forward, he grabbed my collar with both hands to steady himself, pulling his lips away from mine to breathe in, lacking in air it seemed before smiling softly at me, his eyes closing and then he returned to kissing me. Picking up where we'd left off a second ago, a small moan escaped him, his body pressing against mine as he pretty much melted in my arms.

This was so much more than anything I was used to, but it was fantastic somehow. Did all Europeans kiss like this, or was it just Cloud? Holding him tight against me, I leaned him backwards onto the ground, my lips never leaving his. Twisting, I managed to settle myself partly on top of him, but froze in my movements, including the kiss, as he winced, letting out a sound of discomfort.

Quickly, but gently, I pulled back and removed my arms from around him, scooting away some. Had I done something wrong? We should stop anyways, before something happened, but was he okay?

"Sorry, did I hurt you?" He blinked, seemingly surprised by my sudden moving away as he slowly let his arms drop to the ground, sitting up so he could look at me funnily. His lips were swollen, his cheeks flushed, hair a mess and then he tilted his body to the right, grabbing something from underneath him.

"A rock was poking me." He threw it away and then rubbed his bottom, frowning down at it and then he pointed that frown at the distance I'd put between him and me.

"Sorry." I muttered, embarrassed a bit by my overreaction, but still unsure about what to do now. "This is a bit new to me. Thought I was hurting you..."

"You didn't." He said. "Unless you count the fact that you put me on a horse, which led to a sore ass, which is how I was bothered by the rock, which then interrupted our kissing." He shook his head, tilting it so he could look at me curiously. "Do all men kiss like this in the America?" He asked shyly, "Because I think I like it." He smiled, clearly happy with his statement, but not really able to pull off being cocky about it.

Unable to hold in the chuckle, I slowly moved back over to sit next to him. "And here I was thinking that all Europeans must be amazing kissers. I figured my lack of experience would be obvious." The sun was completely down by now, and the firelight was making his hair glow and his blue eyes sparkle. God, he was beautiful.

"I've never kissed anyone the way I kissed you." He murmured. "I'm not very experienced either." He confided softly. "You should laugh more. It's a very nice sound." Lying back on the ground, he moved his hand on my own again, holding onto it with less hesitation this time as he laced his fingers through mine, sighing contently.

Laying down next to him, I was glad that the fire would stay going for awhile longer and that the horses were content to graze until they were full. I suppose I should get out the bedrolls but I was perfectly happy to just lay here on the soft grass, Cloud's hand in mine, the stars shining above us.

"Good night, Cloud." I whispered, my eyes suddenly heavy and my body fully relaxed.

"Night, Leon." He said back, his voice sleepy.

* * *

><p><strong>Cloud - the next day<strong>

"Ga weg!" Slapping my arm upwards, it knocked into the thing that had been breathing onto my face, bothering me in my sleep. Cracking an eye open, my eye twitch as Arrow stared down at me. Big, big, mean looking stallion. "I meant, you can stay if you want, you're not bothering me." I patted him, bending my arm in a way I hadn't thought possible, just to avoid his teeth. Pushing his head down and against my shoulder, he sniffled, clearly trying to find something. Gulping, I remained as still as I could be, reaching out with my right arm, knowing Leon couldn't be lying far... "Leon!" I hissed. "Wake up! Your horse is trying to eat me!"

He wasn't there but I heard his voice a moment later from a little ways off. "Easy boy, he doesn't have your sugar cubes." Clicking his tongue at Arrow, Leon moved into my line of sight, petting his horses neck. Smiling down at me, he opened his palm and Arrow lipped the small white cube that was being held there. "Easy boy. Come on, leave Cloud alone." Pushing against the horse's neck, he moved him away from me before leaning down and offering his hand to help me up. "Sleep okay?"

Taking the hand, I let him help me onto my feet, frowning as I was now standing. "Actually, yes." This was weird because normally sleeping outside on the ground didn't put me in a good mood when waking. I wasn't feeling particularly grumpy now, couldn't because my back wasn't aching. "That means I'm getting used to it..." I murmured, tilting my head curiously at Leon. "Is it possible that now I'll have to get used to beds again?" You never knew. Also, this was nice small talk and could help distract me from the fact that Leon and I had kissed last night and fallen asleep while holding hands.

Of course I was thinking of it now. Failed distraction, clearly. Staring at him rather shamelessly, I couldn't help but appreciate just how handsome he was. I'd done so before, knowing he was a very good looking man, but the fact that I'd gotten to taste his lips, feel how soft they were, how his hands held me... Oh dear, now I was very aware of my heart again.

Laughing, he shook his head. "Sleeping on the ground is just something your body gets used to. Plus, the grass here is pretty soft. Beds will feel like they always have." Leon paused and glanced down at our hands that were still holding onto each other and blushed. Maybe he was thinking about what had happened last night as well. He cleared his throat and look back up at my face. "Hungry?"

I had this issue where I would hear something and then I wouldn't take the time to analyze before responding. Which is what was happening now. So when he'd asked me if I was hungry, the first answer in my mind had been 'For you? Definitely', and that is how I ended up tugging on his hand, forcing him to take a step closer all the while I leaned up, pressing my lips onto his without really thinking much about it at all. It was a quick kiss, as my brain kicked back in gear, leading me to take a step back, looking down sheepishly for my rather personal space invading behavior.

"I... Sorry. I wanted too. I should have-" And then I shut up because it was probably best that way.

"No. I don't mind." Leon murmured before stepping forward and wrapping his arms around me as his lips covered mine. Slow, it was very slow, but he was so deliberate in his movements, his tongue gently running along my bottom lip, one hand moving up into my hair and his lips moving against mine.

Grasping his shirt along his sides, I moaned softly into the kiss. I could very much get used to this, this was a thing I wouldn't mind creating a habit out of. Unlike the saddle and the outdoor ground, my body was very happy with the idea of having to adapt to this daily adjustment. Please let it be daily... The slowness of the kiss was both tantalizing and perfect, his lips so soft and sweet. Sliding my hands up along his sides and over his chest, I let my palms rest lightly below his jaw, my thumbs stroking his cheeks softly because I figured that would be a good way to mutely tell him I was enjoying this very much.

Pulling me harder against him, I heard a small moan escape him and he shifted so that my hips fit against him better. Showing no signs of wanting to stop, Leon continued kissing me, slowly rubbing the hand that wasn't cupping my neck, along my lower back.

I'm not sure how long he would have continued kissing me if his horse hadn't decided at that moment to shove his nose against my shirt, lipping my pocket with his mouth. Detaching my lips from Leon, I did keep my hands on his shoulders, frowning down at Arrow as he was sucking on my shirt.

"Why are you jealous? He rides you all day, he will in a little while. Now shoo."

"It might have something to do with the apple I see peaking out of your pocket there." Moving his hand from my neck, Leon reached down and pulled the apple out of my pocket and held it in front of my eyes. "If you don't want it, I'll cut it up for the horse. Going once...twice..." Leon was smirking while he basically auctioned off my apple to the highest bidder...and right now it was his horse.

I was somewhat dazed with the fact that he'd smiled, smirked and was making a joke, right? anyway, all that in less then three seconds. Normally I had to push and irritate him to hell and back with a round of never ending questions to get that.

"Only half. Arrow only gets half. Kalinka can get the other." I said quickly.

"Sounds good." Pecking my lips quickly, he let go of me and went over to his pack to fish out his knife. Quickly splitting the apple in half, he tossed one over to where Kalinka was grazing and then tossed the other half about ten feet away from her. Arrow snorted and walked quickly over to claim his half before my horse did. "But are you hungry for food?" He asked, still smiling at me.

"Yes." I said happily, moving over to sit down beside him so we could put breakfast together. He was slicing up some bread while I cut up some apples for ourselves, my mind wandering off as we'd fallen in a comfortable silent for a moment. What was going to happen now? Were we just going to enjoy each others presence until the trip was over? Should I ask him what his plans were after he'd gotten me where I needed to be? I'd ask him if I could hire him to help me rebuilt the ranch, but being his boss in our current situation just seemed strange...

"Can I kiss you whenever I want?" Okay, that hadn't been thought out much, but I suppose the question was a lot more safe than the others that had been prodding my brain.

Turning to look at me, his eyes serious, he shook his head. "Maybe we should just stick to kissing each other or whatever, when we're alone. It never ends well when other people know about the preferences that we have." His voice was strained and he turned away to settle the coffee pot on the fire.

"I meant when we're alone. Got caught once and it got me shipped off to another country." I didn't really care what other people thought, but neither did I expect them to be intelligent enough to understand, so I wasn't going to force them to try and get it. It would be a waste of time and the consequences tended to be harsher for people like me then it was for the ignorant folk.

Not liking the frown on his forehead, I leaned to the side, turning his head gently so I could place a soft kiss on his lips, keeping it short, and when I moved away, I pushed an apple piece between his lips, smiling in satisfaction as the frown of worry had switched to a frown of 'huh?'

Raising his hand to push the apple slice all the way into his mouth so he could chew it, he raised an eyebrow. "Thanks. And I guess yes to your question from earlier. Just, try not to do it when I need to use my brain for something, okay? Your kisses tend to make me distracted."

That was very nice to know... It also led me to remember something. I laughed out, startling Leon with my outburst, which led me to shake my head .

"I'm so sorry!" I said between chuckles, "I had no idea you liked men when I dropped my pants those first two days." I clarified. I grinned, chewing on an apple piece. "Had I known I might have been a tad less shameless."

Serving up the breakfast, Leon chuckled. "I tried not to look, but you tested me. Really tested me..." Trailing off, he took a sip of his coffee with an eyebrow raised.

"I sure did." I agreed easily. "But not for man liking reasons. Strangely enough, had I known, I probably would have been more shy." I frowned, "I don't really understand how I didn't figure it out earlier though... The very fact you didn't throw a fit over my being naked in your presence isn't something a man who likes women would do." I shrugged, grabbing a cup of coffee for myself. "We're even now though. You were testing me when you took off your shirt and got wet. And you knew about my preference." I glared at him, not really meaning it though.

"How the hell is my being shirtless against you flashing me your entire body even?" He said indignantly, glaring at me over his breakfast. "You are totally more guilty than I am. I even had to pull leeches off of your back. That was horribly uncomfortable, I'll have you know." Grumbling to himself, he eyed me evilly. "Even, my ass."

I snorted, "Right, I let those leeches hang onto my skin on purpose just to test you." I raised an eyebrow, "I couldn't reach that part of my body, that was definitely not my fault. Granted, I could have put some pants on, but..." I snickered, "I forgot and you didn't take a moment to remind me."

He huffed and stuck his nose up in the air. "Whatever. I'm above this childish behavior. You teased me with your nakedness twice and I barely teased you with my bare chest. End of discussion." Tossing the remains of his breakfast into the fire, he stood up and dusted his pants off. "Are you ready to get going? We have a pretty easy day ahead of us, you'll be glad to know."

"Was it a nice view?" I teased, laughing and sprinting away as he turned around, about ready to grab me so I would stop pestering him. "I'm ready!" I said quickly, walking over to my horse so I could gear her up and climb on her back.

"You'd better watch yourself, tenderfoot. I could leave you here to fend for yourself, ya know." Laughing and winking, Leon made quick work of the rest of the camp and saddled his horse.

Settling onto Kalinka's back, I frowned at him. "Tenderfoot, flatfoot... Is there something wrong with my feet?" I asked curiously, wondering why he was always 'insulting' me through my feet. "What's greenhorn?" I asked as he got up onto Arrow's back. "And cowhands is men who help with horses and cows, am I right? Why call them cowhands when they take care of horses? Wouldn't they be called horsehands?"

"Dear lord." Shaking his head at me, he clicked at his horse. "Tenderfoot, flatfoot, and greenhorn are all terms we use to describe someone who isn't familiar with the frontier. And the reason they are called cowhands, is because they are usually the ones herding and going on cattle drives. And are you going to be asking me questions like this the whole time?"

I pursed my lips, "I might. Depending on how irritated you get. If you sigh, it means I'm good to keep going until this evening. If you roll your eyes and tell Arrow to pick up the pace, it means I have until lunch, but if you groan, then it means I should stop right this instance." You could learn a lot about a person when you spend literally every single minute with them for almost four days.

Blushing a little, no doubt thinking about how to respond, Leon just shook his head at me. "How about I ask some questions about you? How old are you? Who was your first kiss? You seem to be okay with horses, but not the saddle. What kind of saddle do you use in the Netherlands?" Panting as he'd been rambling out those questions as fast as he could, he finally stopped to give me a chance to answer.

"I already told you my age." I reminded him. "Twenty-two." I answered anyway, letting Kalinka trot as she wanted to trot. "My first kiss was Linny, the family's cook's daughter." I snickered, "I wasn't allowed cookies for two weeks after Louisa found out about that. But my first kiss with another man was a boy at my boarding school. His name was Klaus. He sort of cornered me."

I shrugged. "When I realized I liked kissing him better then I did Linny, I let him continue. Now that I've had some time to think about it, that being the boat travel to the America, I have come to know that he was quite forceful. I don't think I could have loved him even if my father hadn't found out." On to the horse question now. "Dressuur sadel, is what we call the saddles we use in the Netherlands. I don't know how to translate that, but I could draw the shape in the dirt when we get lunch." I offered.

Once he said he'd appreciate that, we then started a battle of who could ask the most questions the fastest. Leon was a mighty opponent, seriously, he surprised me, more so because I'm pretty sure by lunch time he had a head start on me... It was okay, because he seemed very happy and I liked that. I don't think I could get enough of his smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Leon - Later that night<strong>

Opening my eyes suddenly, I wondered why the sky was so dark. Wait...I heard another howl to follow the one that had woken me up and I felt Cloud's arm on my chest twitch and I glanced over and caught his eye.

"Wolves. They are probably passing through." Hoping and praying that we weren't anywhere near where they had their den, I quickly looked around the campsite. The fire had died down to barely the coals and the horses were huddled together straining on their picket lines on the other side of it.

"Wolves..." Cloud repeated, "Godsamme." He cursed, crouching up. "Remind me, they're not nice dogs, are they?" He breathed fast. "I think we had them in the Netherlands a long time ago, but the country is small and there are a lot of people now so they moved their packs to the bigger countries. Belgium, France... Where people can't bother them. Are their teeth very big?" Although it was dark, I could see his eyes ,round and huge, clearly not used to this type of thing. Grabbing him quickly, I covered his mouth with mine, hoping to distract his ramblings because being loud was really not the best idea right now.

Pulling back after just a minute, I whispered against his lips. "Easy, Cloud. Let's move the horses near us and throw a few more logs on the fire. They need to know we are here, but we can't startle them. Okay?"

He nodded his head, "Okay. I'm sorry. I'm good now." He assured. We both got up, silently making our way around the fire so we could reach the horses and move them closer as they would be what the wolves would be interested in.

I could tell that Cloud's mare was nervous, more so than my horse and that was making Cloud nervous as well. "Easy girl." I whispered at her as I gently laid my hand against Arrow's flank and gripped his halter, and following his lead rope to the stake holding it in place.

Cloud took a moment to shake off the nerves before proceeding in detaching his horse, knowing full well by now that the animal could sense if we ourselves were frightened. She didn't seem to ease down though, but we didn't exactly have time to wait for her to understand everything was fine. Pulling her free, Cloud held onto the rope, shushing her softly, but now that she wasn't attached anymore she saw the option to run.

Breathing harshly through her nostrils, she started pulling on the rope, Cloud trying not to pull back and make her feel trapped, but she was relentless and after one forceful jerk of the head, Cloud winced, the rope sliding between his palms and I figured it had burnt him as she got free and galloped off into the night. Cursing in Dutch, he was about to set off and run after her.

Dropping Arrow's lead rope, knowing that he wouldn't leave me, I cursed and lunged for Cloud, wrapping my arms around his body. "Cloud!" I shouted, not really caring at this point about keeping it quiet as the wolves would already be aware of us with the mare crashing through the trees.

Unprepared for my weight against him, Cloud stumbled and I quickly twisted as we fell, taking the brunt of the impact of our fall on my back. Whoops. That was a little overenthusiastic of me.

"Will she be okay?" He asked frantically.

"She'll be fine. Just, take it easy, okay?" Loosening the grip I had around his waist, I let him stand up. "Come on, let's just settle down and wait it out."

"I wasn't thinking. I do that. It's stupid." He murmured, pushing up onto his feet, wiping off some leaves from his clothes.

"Shit!" He hadn't seen the baring teeth and dark fur that I had and making a split decision, I lunged up and shoved him to the side, grunting as the impact of eighty pounds of wild snarling animal slammed into me. Feeling the sharp pain of teeth sinking into my forearm, I prayed that it was only the one animal and that the rest of the pack had moved on. Falling onto my back, I gritted my teeth against the pain and tried to pry his teeth from around my arm. Slamming my other arm against his jars, I swore and cursed, my arm feeling like it was breaking.

A split second later, a gun went off not three steps away from me, telling me that Cloud had shot a bullet. The wolf detached it's jaws from my skin, shrinking away and then running off in fright as Cloud shot a second bullet into the air for good measure. Once it was gone, his mop of yellow hair came in my line of vision.

"Oh, Jesus..." He muttered, staring down at the bite. "Leon, you're going to need to tell me exactly what to do now." He said, sounding surprisingly calm for once.

"Are there any more of them?" I asked, gritting my teeth against the pain. "And I just need you to grab the whiskey from my saddle and let's stop the bleeding." Swearing, as I tried to sit up, I saw black spots dance over my vision warning me that I might just pass out.

"No. That was just the one." He said, frowning as he looked around him and then quickly ripped the sleeve off his shirt so he could tie it around the wound tight enough to keep it from bleeding momentarily. "But just in case, I'm bringing you back to the fire with me." Standing up, he managed to pull me up onto his feet, throwing my unharmed arm over his shoulder, his own arm circling my waist as he kept my weight up. "God, you're heavy." He chuckled, helping me walk back up the small hill we'd tumbled down from. "Okay, while I go dig up that whiskey, maybe you sing me the alphabet."

"How about I just keep talking? I'm not going to sing anything." I chuckled weakly, trying to speak through the pain. It wasn't really that deep, but there were multiple bites and they were all bleeding at the same time. "We were probably just in their travel path, and instead of going around us, they figured they would just check us out. Although, I don't understand why that one would want to take a bite out of you...well...maybe I do know why..." I blame the blood loss for the ramblings that were dropping out of my mouth, because all I could think about now was the pain, and how good looking Cloud was.

"Yes, my ass is that delicious." He agreed easily, letting out a noise of victory as he found the bottle, quickly sprinting back over to my side. "What's the whiskey for? Disinfection?"

Grabbing it with my good arm, I took a swig and nodded. "Yeah, that too." Swallowing another gulp, I handed the bottle back to him. "Okay, don't use all of it, but disinfect away." Untying his ripped sleeve, he grimaced at the wound and then splashed a bit of whiskey onto it, leading me to wince in pain as that did not feel nice. My pain was suddenly interrupted as Cloud leaned in, pressing his lips on top of mine, distracting me some.

"Now what?" He asked.

"Now grab my knife and heat it up in the fire. We're going to cauterize the bleeding. It's quick and efficient, but it'll hurt like hell so hand me the whiskey or keep kissing me..." I was mesmerized by his face flickering in the firelight.

"Niet goed. Dit is niet leuk. Godverdomme." Gulping, he gave me a quick peck, pushing the bottle into my good hand before scrambling up and doing as I instructed. Throwing another log on the fire, he blew on it, letting it build up steadily before sticking the knife into the flame so it could heat. "Oh! I know what will keep your mind off the pain!" He exclaimed, looking over his shoulder back at me. "I've been thinking about our situation. The fact that you'll go after having gotten me where I need to be. Do you have to leave?" He asked.

Taking another swig from the bottle, I thought for a second. "I haven't really thought about it. I just figured that it was part of the job. Drop you off and leave you alone." I winced at how callous that sounded coming out of my mouth. "I mean, not alone, but I didn't know what the situation was when I took this job. Why?"

"Well," He started, standing up to walk back over to me with the hot knife, "At first I thought maybe you could help me with the ranch, since you know how all of that works and I clearly don't. I figured I'd just hire you, since I have money and you need the money to by your own place. But considering our situation," He was rambling, most likely nervous about what he was about to do and the subject of our current conversation. "I didn't want to step on your toes. You were very clear when you said you didn't want to work for someone forever, and I'm afraid I'd hurt your pride if I hired you while being on kissing terms." Gritting his teeth, he took a hold of my wrist, licking his lips nervously. "I just... press it against it, right?" He asked.

"Yeah." I wasn't quite sure what he was trying to say, but I grabbed my bandana and stuffed it into my mouth and nodded for him to just go for it and I'd think about what he would say later. What it sounded like was he wanted to hire me or something...

"Remember when I was standing in the Old Timer's livery stable completely wasted? You walked up to me and I passed out a second later? Well, right before I did, the first thing in my mind was, 'He is the prettiest cowboy ever'. You really are." He said and then quickly pressed the blade against my wound, holding me still.

I'm pretty sure I passed out after that. But the last thought that went through my mind as the dancing black spots took over, was that I wasn't sure I liked being thought of as pretty.

* * *

><p><strong>Cloud<strong>

Pulling the blade off his skin, I tossed the knife onto the ground a little further ahead, frowning down at Leon's very still body. "No..." Grabbing his shoulders, I shook him. "If you're dead, I swear, I'll bring you back to life just so I can kill you again myself!" Pulse! Check his pulse! Instead, I pressed my ear against his chest, sighing in relief as after a moment I could hear his heart beat. As the adrenaline and concentration was no longer pushing me to do anything, I groaned, letting myself just lie there, my face still pressed against his chest.

This was a disaster. I'm pretty sure everything was my fault as I hadn't done anything the right way. The wolf hadn't even wanted to bite Leon, it had wanted to attack me and Leon had made sure the wolf couldn't. And now I was being selfish by feeling self pity while Leon lay passed out beneath me, carrying a wound I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to handle.

Then again, I wouldn't know, because the giant idiot- Pushing up, I smacked his chest, not too harshly, I didn't want to hurt him more, just to get his attention. "Why didn't you let it bite me?" I growled at him. No answer. "Damn you, Leonhart!" Getting up, I marched over to the stream we'd been following for days now, bending down to get my cup along the way so I could fill that up.

Once that done, I marched back over to my passed out hero, sighing as I crouched down beside him. "I'm very nearly sorry for what I'm about to do." Not completely, because I wasn't sure it was good for him to be passed out in the state he was in. I just... I needed to make sure he was okay, and I would only believe it once he told me so himself. Dipping the cup, I let the water splash down on his face.

His eyes slowly opened and blinked. "Cloud?" Grimacing, he lifted up his good hand and wiped his face. "What happened?"

Sitting down beside him, I looked him over. "You don't remember? You got bitten by a wolf and then I had to stop the bleeding with a hot knife and then after I called you pretty, you passed out."

"Oh yeah..." He wrinkled his nose. "Pretty? Really?" He leaned up and cursed under his breath. "Anymore whiskey left?"

"Well, you are. But I'll agree that the terms handsome, beautiful and very attractive are much more fitting." Grabbing his face, I kissed him, needing to very much. But... "Why didn't you just let it bite me?" I asked, moving away and pushing the whiskey bottle into his hand.

"Hey..." His eyes were a little unfocused and he licked his lips. "Why did you stop?" Shaking out of whatever it was he was thinking about, he looked at me. "Did you really want to get bitten?" His voice was soft and he gave me a knowing look.

"No..." I agreed. "But I'm sure you didn't want to get bitten either." Reaching for a bag, I stuffed it under his head, shuffling over to his other side while pushing him down onto his back. Hovering over him, I leaned in again, pressing my lips softly against his own, breathing in steadily as I started a slow lip lock. While kissing him, I settled down beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder, slowly ending the kiss so I could place my head onto his chest, making sure I didn't block the arm that wasn't wounded by falling asleep on top of it. "We can sleep now, if you want." I murmured against his shirt. "Thank you for..." Sort of everything.

"Yeah, I know." His arm held me close and he placed a kiss on my head. "Anytime..." Voice trailing off, the arm around growing limp but never letting go.

* * *

><p><strong>Leon - the next day<strong>

Opening my eyes the next morning, I was slightly confused that the sun was above the horizon. That was until I tried to get up and a sharp pain was shooting through my arm. Okay, so last night wasn't a dream and I really had been attacked by a wolf. Trying to save Cloud. Glancing down, I saw his blonde hair covering my chest and I took a deep breath and didn't move. He'd taken care of me, stopped the bleeding and cauterized the wound, basically saving me from several unpleasant scenarios, including amputation.

"Cloud." I whispered, not wanting to startle him awake.

His head popped up and he looked at me seriously. "Are you okay? Do you need anything? Do I have to reheat the blade? Whiskey?"

Reaching up with my good hand, I pushed the hair out of his face and smiled at him. "I'm fine. Relax, it's not really that bad. How are you doing?"

Sitting up, he checked my arm and then framed my face gently. "I'm alright. I'm glad it's not that bad. Here," Leaning forward, he kissed me softly, taking his time, breathing in steadily, his lips barely moving but the kiss was intense enough for that not to be needed. His thumbs stroked my cheeks as he pulled away, giving me a proper smile now. "There. One of the million kisses I will give you as thanks for saving me."

I blushed. "You're welcome. I'm pretty sure that we just surprised him, is all." Feeling a bit flustered at the emotion that I was feeling, I tried sitting up. My head was throbbing some, but I'm pretty sure it was the whiskey I'd downed rather quickly the night before. I needed coffee.

"I will get you some water, it will help with the hangover." Cloud said, pushing up onto his feet, his clothes rumpled, hair a mess and he grimaced as he stretched his back. "What would you like for breakfast?" He asked as he walked over to the stream with my cup after having gotten it.

Glancing down and seeing the makeshift bandage around my arm, I decided I should probably get up and help him. I flexed my fingers and was glad that there was only a little pain, nothing indicating any other damage besides the puncture marks that the teeth had caused.

"Coffee is fine for me. I'm thinking we'll just eat some jerky while we ride." Frowning at the sun again, I figured we were behind the ten days I'd quoted Cloud in the beginning.

"No we're not." Cloud said, walking back over to me and pushing the cup of water he'd filled into my hand. "One of your hands is out of commission. You can't eat while trying to ride Arrow."

I shook my head and smiled. "Well, first we need to find your horse. And don't worry about me riding. I've trained my horse from a foal. I could ride him with no arms if I had to." Taking a deep drink from my cup, I smiled at Cloud and handed him the empty cup. "Thanks. Okay, let's go find your horse." She wouldn't have gone far. This was unfamiliar territory and horses were always more willing to travel with others than by themselves. And I'd seen the way she connected with Cloud so I figured that all he would need to do was call her and she'd find us.

After we'd packed everything up, Cloud held onto the bag he'd taken off Kalinka the night prior, starting to walk down the hill, the direction his horse had taken off in.

"Hey, where are you going?" Frowning and tilting my head towards my horse I got Cloud's attention. "You can sit in front of me, he'll be fine with two for a while and it will go faster if we're on horseback." My mind was definitely pleased with the idea of Cloud sitting in front of me, my arms, or rather arm at this point, around his waist holding him against me.

Looking at my horse, he bit down onto his lip, then looked at me, which then led him to lick his lips, telling me he was thinking along the same lines I was.

"No, thank you, I'm fine. I can walk." He said, his voice strained as he reluctantly turned around and started walking again.

Well, that wasn't the response I was looking for. What was he thinking? It would take longer this way and we were already delayed enough as it was...oh. Smirking at the back of Cloud's head., I quickly mounted and using my knees, guided my horse along side him.

"So I'm thinking that I know a short cut so we can make up some time." I didn't really, but I just wanted to see Cloud's reaction to see if my idea was correct.

"I'm rather sure Kalinka didn't take the short cut. Lets take the regular road." He answered.

"Cloud, are you stalling?" Slowing my horse, I frowned at him. "Just call her name and wait a minute." There was no way I was going to make him continue walking the trail without finding his horse first. I can't say I was against the idea of spending more time with him, but he needed to get to his ranch, right? Plus, if I remember correctly, he'd been rambling on last night about having me stick around when we got there. I hadn't responded to him about it, mainly because I wasn't sure if it was a good idea yet, but I couldn't think of anything that I disliked about it. It was just a rather interesting idea. Working for Cloud, but what about us? We'd kissed...that was going to complicate things.

"I don't understand the word 'stalling'. My English isn't that great." He shrugged his shoulders, giving me a quick smile before whispering out his horse's name, making sure she had no chance of hearing him.

"You liar. But I'll expand your vocabulary." Moving my horse to stand in front of him so I was looking down into his eyes. "It means you're delaying and not just that, but you're doing it on purpose." Smiling softly, I murmured, "What's up? Why are you stalling?"

"I'm worried about your health. I want you to take it easy." Giving him a pointed look, he groaned, dropping the bag and rolling his eyes. "Kay, fine, I'm stalling. And on purpose too." He grumbled out, averting his gaze from me as he took a while longer before giving me the reason for this. "When we get to the ranch, it'll mean you'll leave. That idea is not pleasant in my mind."

"I remember. You wanted me to stay and help. Isn't that what you said last night?"

He shook his head, "That's what I said, but I don't want to hire you. I mean, I do, you're very good at what you do, but I can't hire you while we're..." Looking up at me, he frowned, "You know. It wouldn't be right. Bringing money into our situation would make things uneven, and although I'd never abuse the position, I wouldn't want us to bump into differences of opinions because of it either." Sighing, he walked over to stand beside my horse. "Can I ride with you for a little while?"

"Yes. As long as you actually call your horse this time. Come on up." Scooting backwards and settling myself on my horse's rump, I took the saddle bags from him with my good arm and waited for him to mount in front of me. Climbing up somewhat clumsily as he was careful not to knock his leg or arms into me, he settled down, looking over his shoulder back at me to give me a small smile before looking out front, calling his horse properly this time.

Setting the saddle bags behind me, I settled my injured arm on my thighs, but snaked my good arm around Cloud's waist. "I guess there really isn't a reason why I couldn't work for you. But, the question is, what do you want to happen between us besides me working for you?" Yeah, it would be nice to own my own property, but I would still need to earn some more money and this might be the best way.

Settling his body back gently against mine, he breathed out softly, placing his hand on top of my own. "I don't know, it's all very confusing." He mumbled, "I do know that I don't want you to leave though. You're my only friend in the America and I would very much like to stay on kissing terms. I like kissing you." Leaning forward and gently kissing his neck, I thought about what he had said. I felt the same way really. I wanted to continue kissing him. So very much. He was my only friend as well and I very much didn't want to leave him. At least I could admit that to myself. The next step would be telling Cloud that I wanted to work for him. And be with him. But was it a recipe for disaster?

"I guess I should stay then." I murmured.

"Leon?" He murmured, turning his head, his lips pressing against my cheek. "How much money do you have?"

Thinking and trying not to be distracted by his lips so near mine, I answered, "About five thousand dollars. Plus, the five hundred you are supposed to pay me. Why?"

"Well, I was thinking..." He said, turning his head so he wasn't looking at me anymore. "The ranch is very big, very, very big. I'd need a lot of your help to restore it and hiring you would make us being on kissing terms uncomfortable." He looked over his shoulder, his eyes curious. "You could take a look at it, tell me if it's anything like the place you've always wanted, and then I could sell you half of it. We'd both be owners of the ranch then and that discomfort would be effectively out of order."

Pulling back away from him, I licked my lips. "Let me get this straight. You want me to buy half of your ranch and we could live there, together?" My heartbeat sped up and my breath caught. My own place, in a manner of speaking. With Cloud. Probably the only man I could be with and who I wanted to be with.

He thought it over, then nodded his head. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." His cheeks tinted with a soft pink, his eyes somewhat huge as he most likely realized how big of a proposition he just made. He didn't take it back though, seemed very decided and determined not to have me leave.

Before I could really respond, Arrow whinnied loudly and we heard the answering whinny of Cloud's horse and she trotted into view. I guess it was a good thing she interrupted us because I wasn't quite sure of my answer yet. I didn't want to leave him, that much I knew.

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><p><strong>AN: If anyone can guess who the next couple will be in this series, I will give you a special sneak preview! **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, so I'm sorry to say that no one has guessed correctly. Reyaa said that I can give one more hint cause the last chapter will be posted tomorrow. **

**HINT: It's a pairing we don't give the spotlight to often, which annoys some of you! Good luck!**

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><p><strong>Cloud <strong>

I scolded Kalinka for running off again like I had hundred times already today, not able to stay very angry with her long though, as I was just happy to have her back. So I patted her, letting her graze while Leon took down some of his saddle bags. He seemed to handle things pretty well, even though one of his arms was injured. I'd walk over to him and help with the detaching of the saddle bags and then dinner, but he'd told me to knock it off and not worry so much about him. He'd said it nicely of course, clearly not minding my nursing him all that much, but it flustered him. My mind was whirling right now though, making it hard to remember that I felt the need to help him out what with his wounded arm.

Staring rather absently into space, I blinked out of it when Leon waved a hand before my eyes. I offered him a quick smile. "I'm going to wash up." Stepping closer, I placed a small kiss against his cheek, and then moved out of his arms and over to the stream, making sure a couple of trees blocked me from his view so I couldn't tease him with my nakedness more then I already had.

I'd have snickered at the memory, but I couldn't help but stay stuck on the fact that Leon hadn't answered my proposition yet. Not that it didn't make sense, of course it did, he probably wanted to check out the land before agreeing to it. I even told him to do so myself when making the proposition. But I just really wished he didn't need to think it over too long, because the suspense was killing me.

Sighing at my silly self, I shrugged out of my clothes, leaving the underpants on in case there were any more leeches around this part of the stream as well. At least the fabric would stop them from going anywhere near my willy. I clenched my teeth at the coldness of the water, but quickly got used to it as I definitely needed to wash. I smelled terrible.

I heard a splash from behind me and Leon's voice cursing as he was no doubt getting used to the cold water as I had. "Cloud? Mind if I join you?"

I couldn't help grin, turning around. "You're already in. But no, I don't mind." I swam over to him, because I liked being close to him. Humming and smiling in return, he swam and met me halfway giving me a kiss and cupping my face with his good arm.

"Can I get you to maybe wash my back?" Smirking as he turned around, I was given a delicious view of his naked ass. Staring, I reached out, but then quickly remembered I couldn't grab his ass. Not without any kind of back rubbing introduction first anyway...

So instead, I put my palms onto his shoulders, stepping closer, nearly letting my chest press against his back, but feeling somewhat shy as we'd never been quite this intimate before... That very idea had me realizing the situation we were in right now, leading me to smother a moan as I let my forehead drop against his back between his shoulder blades.

"We're even now." I declared, tilting me head up, letting my lips drag over his skin leisurely while my hands washed his back with care as he'd so kindly asked me to do. I'd need a cloth to do a proper job, but I wasn't going to interrupt this just so I could get me one of those.

No... I wanted to hold onto something altogether different right now. Trailing kisses down his spine, I let my fingers slide down his sides, my heart speeding up and my breath becoming heavier as he was most likely the handsomest man I'd ever seen and touched.

"I'm so attracted to you, it drives me insane..." I whispered, not really minding all that much I didn't have full control over my brain, clearly, as I don't think I'd have told him such a thing while not being dazed with the warmth of his skin so close.

"I feel as though this is just too good to be true. Meeting someone as handsome as you, and finding that we have more in common than we realized, is beyond amazing." His voice was low and he shivered, leaning his head back and offering me his lips.

I nodded, agreeing that we both had a damn lot of luck. Leaning up, I took the kiss he gave me, my left hand moving to his front so it could rest on his stomach, while I couldn't stop my right from sliding down, placing it on his butt. Klaus had never let me anywhere near his ass, so this was new territory to me. I was fine just leaving it there forever if Leon was okay with it; my hand was very happy where it was.

Groaning against my mouth, Leon pulled away only to turn around so he was facing me as his lips connected back to mine. His good arm settled on my ass, squeezing it softly as his lips teased mine before his tongue pushed it's way into my mouth.

"You taste fantastic." Murmuring between his kisses, he pulled me closer against him. Sliding his hand hesitantly to the hem of my underwear, he paused before sliding it underneath and resting his palm against the bare skin. Grasping his neck, I pushed up, kissing him feverishly, desperately. I'd never felt this way with anyone else before...

When our skins touched, my body went all hot and it seemed hard to find any coherent thoughts in my mind. It was also very hard to concentrate on everything all at once. I didn't know whether to drown into the kiss, or let myself moan as his hand squeezed my butt gently in all the right places. Was it possible to enjoy both at the same time? Maybe we'd just have to do this more often, get more experience. Yes, I liked that idea very much.

Moving his hand, he made the quick decision to push my underwear down my backside, touching every inch of skin that was revealed. His kissing stayed slow, but intense and he stepped forward enough so that our skin was touching from chest to knee. Helping him, I removed my hands from his chest just for a moment so I could push my underwear off completely. He was naked, so I could be naked. Naked was better. I managed to do it without breaking the kiss, throwing the wet fabric blindly over his shoulder and hopefully onto the bank, but not caring all that much really as my fingers could finally return to him. Slipping them around his waist, I nearly hesitated, but then realized that was just silly and moved my hands down, letting my palms rest on his ass.

"Oh god." Moving his injured arm to wrap around my waist, Leon pulled away from the kiss and looked at me. "Cloud, I'm not sure if this is alright, but I'm going to try something, okay?" He murmured, his lips bruised from kissing me.

I smiled up at him, my mind a bit foggy. "Okay." I had no idea what he was going to do, but all that we'd been doing so far had felt great, so I'm sure whatever he had in mind couldn't hurt. While he would do that, I wanted to... Leaning forward, I placed a kiss against his neck and then another, and another. His skin tasted salty and he smelled very nice.

He took a deep breath and suddenly his uninjured hand was moving from it's place on my ass, sliding around my hip and finally resting lightly against my cock. Pausing for only a second, and moaning as I nibbled on his neck, he wrapped his hand around it and slowly started pumping it. My lips stopped moving, mouth simple open and pressed against his shoulder as I breathed in, my body trembling as his hand paid soft attention to me. Slipping one arm up and around his neck, I hoped he wouldn't mind if I hung on to him as my legs were feeling weak and-

"Leon." I moaned, surprising myself with the sudden noise of sheer want and need, but not all that surprised at the same time either as what he was doing to me felt amazing. Increasing his speed just a little in response to his name, Leon leaned forward and started nipping and kissing my neck. With every stroke, he grew more confident and sure of himself and what he was doing to me. He was moaning quietly and his hips were slowly pushing into my hips trying to create friction on himself as well.

Realizing Leon had a cock of his very own, I pulled my lips from his skin, "I'm sorry! It's just very hard to concentrate..." I gave him a sheepish smile, ducking my head down as I felt my cheeks burn while my hand quickly moved down his body, my fingers dipping into the water so I could wrap them around his length. I rubbed the way he had, figuring that if it felt good on me, it had to on him as well.

"Shit..." Gasping out my name as I continued pumping him, he slumped into me slightly but his hand never faltered.

"Not really, but I suppose cursing is appropriaa-" I choked on my words as he squeezed, my eyes rolling back into my head as I dropped my forehead against his shoulder. "I- Oh god..." I panted, my body covered in goosebumps, a shiver running down my spine in the best way possible as he was making sure my cock would feel very satisfied. Following his lead, I quickened my hand on him, slowing occasionally to squeeze and then just as soon picked up the pace again. Face pressed deep against his neck, my shoulders trembled and I was pretty sure Leon would kick me straight into heaven if he kept going. Which he did...

"I'm feeling funny..." I said breathlessly, moaning against his skin, and when that funny feeling turned to bliss, my teeth bit into his shoulder to smother the loud exclamation that wanted to come out.

Grunting in surprise, Leon's organ pulsed in my hand and he suddenly tensed. "Cloud..." He moaned and held me against him, each one of us using the other to lean on. Panting, he murmured, "Are you alright? Because I'm feeling amazing...

"Very, very alright. I'm good, amazing. You're amazing. I- This." I shook my head out of my ramble, deciding to just lean into him, kissing the spot I'd bitten before smiling against it. "Where did you learn how to do that?" I asked curiously, still somewhat breathless.

Blushing as he moved away a little, he mumbled, "I guess I just felt like touching you...and then, I remembered having done something like that to myself and that's it..." Reaching up to push a lock of hair out of my face, he smiled, "Felt good, right?"

I smiled back, "Very." I agreed. "Now I'm hungry though..."

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><p><strong>Leon - The following morning<strong>

The next morning I was up before Cloud, finally back into my routine of getting up before the sun. However, I had a hard time crawling out from under him because apparently, I was his new favorite pillow to lay on at night. Smiling down at him, I concluded that I didn't mind in the slightest. My arm was still pretty sore, not so much from the bites, but from the bruise that the jaws of the wolf had caused with how hard it clamped down on me.

Flexing my fingers to remove the soreness, I quickly gathered another log to add to the fire, hoping that I could get coffee going before he woke up. Yesterday was still a pretty strong memory in my mind, what with exploring Cloud's body and us experiencing each other like that. Besides the fact that Cloud was a man, I wasn't completely sure about the socially accepted sexual acts one could do with one's partner.

I was familiar with the saloon girls and the different unsavory acts that they would perform, but I wasn't sure about Cloud. He'd seemed a little naive about what we were doing and it seemed as though he might not be as knowledgeable about such things. But, even without that knowledge, he'd been extremely enthusiastic about what we had done, so I can't say that I was unhappy with his naivety.

As I quietly packed up the things we wouldn't need for breakfast, I thought more on his offer to buy half of his ranch. It seemed like an ideal solution, especially since I was loathe to just leave once I'd dropped him off. Even if, for some wild reason, we didn't end up staying together in the sense of us being lovers, I would still be able to stay and run my half of the ranch. Or, he could do some parts of it, and I could do the parts that he didn't know how to do. He was a quick learner and I could see him learning how to run a ranch after seeing it done.

Looking over at him, I smiled. Not only was he smart, he was educated. Starting a school in a town that might not have one was a good way to utilize and spread that knowledge. And even if there was already a school, Cloud would probably be able to become a teacher, or he could even become a judge. Those with an education could go far in this world. Well, I figured that I'd say yes to his proposition and when I saw the ranch, I could make my final decision like he said. It could be the best offer I could possibly get. Putting some salted pork that Tifa had given me into the frying pan, I made my way back to where Cloud was laying on my bedroll.

Leaning over him, I quickly bent down and kissed his lips softly. "Cloud." I murmured still close enough to touch him.

"Hmm?" He opened an eye, giving me a smile, "You get up much to early." He murmured. "I'm awake." He told me while falling back asleep.

Poking his shoulder gently, I grinned down at him. "Cloud. Come on, we gotta get started. We've been lazy for long enough. Breakfast will be ready soon." I saw the sky grow lighter as the sun peaked over the horizon. Yup, time to get going.

"Okay." He mumbled, sitting up, his arms coming around my neck, his lips pressing against mine. He wasn't going for a light quick kiss as he parted his mouth, snaking his tongue out and touching it to mine while pushing me over so I suddenly found myself on my back, Cloud practically on top of me. Which is when he ended the kiss. "Morning!" He said happily, pecking my lips one more time before getting up and walking over to the fire where the pork was frying.

"Dammit." That was totally unfair. Glaring at him, I stood back up and stomped over to the fire. "That was cruel. So, how did you sleep?" Flipping the pork, and enjoying the site of it browning, I filled Cloud's cup with coffee and handed it to him.

Taking a sip, he then grinned, "You're very comfortable." Sneak. "How did you sleep? Your arm feeling better today?"

"It feels fine. Here." Handing him the pork on a slice of bread, I cleared my throat. "And I was thinking about what you said about buying half your ranch." I waited to see if he was following me.

He sighed heavily. "I was trying very hard not to say anything and let you make the decision without pressure and continuous comments on my part. Please put me out of my misery and tell me what you think of it?" He blurted out, making clear he'd been thinking about it quite a bit.

Chuckling, I nodded. "If you were still serious about it, then yes, I'll take a look around and if I like what I see, then I'll buy half." Breathing deeply, I waited to see if I was nervous about saying it out loud. Nope, it felt good actually. Like I was taking a step forward. Finding a home.

"Oh thank god..." He breathed out. "I hoped you'd say that, because although sudden, I was serious about it and am really comfortable with the idea. If you hadn't agreed to it then that might have meant we weren't on the same page, and I don't like the idea of us not being on the same-" He cut his ramblings off by himself. "Yes. That sounds good."

I didn't respond right away, thinking about what he said about it being sudden. We'd known each other for less than a week. Glancing at him, I thought about not seeing him again. And the thought made me a little sick to my stomach.

"Let's get going." Packing the rest of the stuff after breakfast, I gave Cloud a quick kiss and we headed out.

The next few days were a blur of waking up, eating, occasionally hunting for some quick meat, and finally sleeping next to each other every night. We kissed every chance we got, and sometimes I was unable to keep my hands off of him and I took it a little farther than that. It shouldn't have been hard, but the way the sun made his hair shine sometimes...I wasn't responsible for my actions. No, not responsible.

One morning had been rather amusing as Cloud had tried to kiss me silly, which had worked, but of course the tease had then pulled away before it could go any further. I hadn't allowed it that time though, pulling him back in my arms, making sure to turn that hair of his into a complete mess before he could eat some breakfast.

He'd still been rather sleepy after wards, and then seemingly swimming in the kiss even though it had ended, he'd forgotten to tie his saddle the right way, leading him to climb up Kalinka on one side, flopping down onto the ground on the other as the saddle had twisted and slid down his horse's stomach. I'd been worried up until I'd seen Cloud groaning into the dirt, looking somewhat confused at what had taken place.

As I'd laughed at him, he'd then gotten back at me later on by cutting my suspenders, innocently informing me he liked the way my pants hung so low over my hips. I'd then cut his, giving him the same innocent explanation, leading us to hitch our pants up for the rest of the day. Until that evening when we'd both agreed it wasn't practical at all, and ended up sitting by the fire, sewing our suspenders back in order.

Cloud had surprised me one evening, by quietly singing as I'd been feeding the fire and his voice had been so clear that I'd asked for a song every chance I got. Plus, it had been one of the only ways to get him to stop asking me questions sometimes. The man never seemed to run out of them...

As if making a silent agreement, we hadn't talked about the ranch at all. I needed to see it and Cloud wanted me to see it before we made a real final decision. The decision would be big, a huge step forward. So we didn't talk of what we could do with the place, no planning in advance, not even really mentioning it. It was okay, we could do all of that once we had arrived and made the decision.

The land surrounding us was beautiful, green and vibrant with plenty of grazing for potential cattle herds. I was anxious to see the ranch that Cloud now owned and if it was half of what I was seeing around me, I'd definitely be interested in buying half of it. The land around here had already been homesteaded and now people had to purchase the land from others or the government so it was good to have an in already.

Glancing at Cloud's wide eyes, I chuckled to myself. I guess he wasn't used to the wide open terrain and the fact that you could go days without seeing a soul. I liked it like that, but I didn't mind sharing the wide open space with Cloud. It was our last day of travel and we were avoiding the town that was about five miles away from his ranch, hoping that we could just settle in before heading into town to see about getting supplies.

We needed to see what was there and what we needed to possibly order in the way of supplies. With the many trees in the area, we wouldn't need to buy lumber, but it would be faster. I'd have to see what Cloud had in the way of funds. I knew he was well off, but I didn't know how well off. And I really didn't feel too comfortable asking that. It wasn't really any of my business.

"Hey, can I see that deed again? I want to check the location one more time." Each deed was made in relation to the nearest town or homestead office. According to his deed, he owned about fifty acres northwest of the town. A great location with at least one documented water source.

Fishing the paper out of one of his saddle bags, he handed it to me. "I can't quite believe I own the ground I'm riding on right now..." He murmured. It was already an amazing piece of property. Since we'd arrived mid morning, I'd taken him on a longer route around the back so that he could get a good look at everything he owned. I'd spotted about a hundred head of cattle already, deer sign and a large spring that fed into a pond. Truly a prime spot to own. It was probably worth more than I had on me and I was nervous about the price that I would have to pay...

"Tell me if you have any questions, or if you see the house that your uncle built. I'm thinking it will be at the southern end closest to the town."

"I hope my uncle played the piano." He said with a smile, looking relaxed as he didn't seem so pressed to ask me any questions for once, clearly content to just drink it all in bit by bit.

"Did you ever meet your uncle?" I had an idea about a piano if he truly wanted one. The town was supposed to be a fairly large one, probably only a year or two away from getting a railroad through here. I could probably order him one...

Cloud shook his head. "No. He was first born, expected to marry a good match and take over my grandfather's responsibilities. He left, which is how my father stepped in and became the head of the family name. Apparently he was a lot like my brother, Zack. I've seen pictures of him, they look exactly alike, while I look more like my father." Cloud shrugged, "He didn't write as him and my father weren't on good terms at all. I'm surprised my uncle left the ranch to my father."

"Oh? So, it's actually in your father's name?" That might be a problem unless his father had signed over the deed to Cloud's name.

"He signed it over to me." Cloud assured. "Along with half of Aerith's dowry, which is enough funds for me to live off of without ever having to work." Blinking in surprise, I tried to fathom exactly how much that would be exactly and I couldn't. Cloud looked sheepish at my perplexed expression. "I'm well off, not rich. I could be very rich for a couple of years and then run out of funds very fast, or, I can be smart and live modestly and securely for the rest of my life without ever having to worry about money."

I nodded. "That makes sense. And a ranch like this can be profitable without growing too large for one or two of us to handle. Hey, I think that's the house up there." Pointing to a building that was showing through a break in the trees, I squinted and tried to get a better look.

"I can't tell if it's in good state from here..." Cloud grinned as he prepared himself to lead Kalinka into a gallop, clearly wanting to race me to the house.

I was about to answer, when there was a sudden CRACK and Arrow reared up in surprise as a puff of dirt sprang up in front of us. "Shit!" Someone was shooting at us! "Cloud, run!" Spinning my horse around, I figured that the shot came from the house and we'd better head for the trees behind us. Hoping it was just a warning shot, but not wanting to stick around and see for sure, I glanced over at Cloud to see if he was following me.

"Waarom zijn der mensen in mijn huis?" That was the most irritated growl I'd heard out of him ever yet, the glare coming from his eyes wasn't pleasant either as he spurred Kalinka on, following me.

I heard one more shot following the one that had spooked my horse, and I glanced behind me, catching a glint off of a rifle barrel from the house before it disappeared behind the trees we'd run into. Still running the horses, I figured the best thing to do would be to head into town. Quickly. If they were shooting at us, whoever they were, then they could possibly hunt for us.

"Follow me!" I yelled over the pounding of the horse's hooves. Pulling ahead of Cloud, I let the roan have his head and put as much distance as possible between us and that house. What the hell? I thought the place had been abandoned...well, this was a prime location and we shouldn't be surprised that squatters may have settled onto it. We needed a marshal...

After about fifteen minutes of heavy riding, I decided that we had enough of a head start that we needed to slow the horses and decide what to do now. Pulling back on the reins, the roan snorted, clearly happier running than stopping, but he eventually slowed to a walk, sides heaving.

"You okay?" I asked as Cloud's horse caught up with mine.

"The America can be very rude sometimes!" He glared over his shoulder. "It's supposed to be abandoned!" He shrieked, patting his horse absently while looking completely frustrated.

Taking a gulp from my canteen, I offered it to him. "How long has your uncle been dead?"

He took it, gulping some down before answering, "Nearly four years. Five maybe... My father forgot to mention the exact date."

"That's a long time to be abandoned, but some people just get greedy." Thinking it over, I figured that since they hadn't shot to kill, we might have a chance at a peaceful resolution. We'd approached the house from the back, so maybe if we showed up with the marshal and tried the front door we might have better luck. "We should head to town and find the marshal."

"I'll get my house back?" He asked happily, the glare completely gone as I'd given a solution.

Nodding at him, I replied, "You have the deed. It's your land. They are squatters at best and downright thieves at the worst. We tell the marshal, and he should take care of it. I'm not looking to get into a land feud on the very first day we get here. Come on, let's get going." Clicking to my horse, I pointed him in the direction of town. I wanted this taken care of, and fast.

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><p><strong>Cloud<strong>

"I just don't think it's proper for someone to just move into a home they know isn't theirs. It simply does not make sense in my head. If I were to run into a house that was empty, I wouldn't just settle into it and say it's mine when I know it isn't." I muttered, irritated somewhat still as we came to the edge of the town, finally. "I almost need a drink. But don't let me go to the bar because I'm sure my hair color or accent will set off some guy like Wil Hatchett and get me into trouble again." I puffed out some air, trying to settle my nerves.

Slowing our paces as the street we moved into was packed with walking people, I looked around, seeing that this town was bigger then the one I'd met Leon in. This was all still very new to me. Towns didn't look like this back in Europe at all and this was only the second one I'd properly set foot in. I was used to the American grass fields and forests now, but towns I'd still need to get used too. I also felt like people were staring, but maybe I was just paranoid. Were they staring? I pulled my hat up onto my head for good measure, hiding my hair as apparently that wasn't the most common color around here.

"How is it you people can smell foreigners the moment they set foot in your country?" I whispered at Leon.

He chuckled at me and shook his head. "It isn't really foreigners that we smell. It's strangers. You'll notice I'm getting just as many stares as you are. Relax. This is your town now. Just be friendly and everything will be fine." Pointing to a tall building at one end of the main street, Leon continued. "Why don't you head over and get us a room? I can go and find the marshal, or there might even be a sheriff for this size of town."

I was about to ask him whether I had to take just one room or two, but he was riding off already and although I could still ask him, the dozen people around us would hear the question also and I'm pretty sure it didn't matter how friendly I'd be after making something like that clear... Alright then. Pursing my lips at Leon's retreating figure, I guided Kalinka over to the post before the hotel, dismounting and tying her to it while the matter of one or two rooms ran through my mind. If I took one room, which I really wanted too, we might risk people noticing and thinking things... If I took two rooms, Leon might believe I didn't want to sleep in the same bed as him.

Patting Kalinka on the neck, I then walked over to the front of the hotel building, making my way inside. Leon was a smart man, he'd understand the precaution if I were to decide on taking two rooms. But did I want to sleep in a separate bed? I'd gotten very used to using Leon as my pillow, I'm not sure I could sleep without him anymore.

A delicate clear of the throat pulled me out of my thoughts, my eyes focusing on the person who'd asked for my attention. I smiled at the lady behind the reception desk of the hotel, realizing I'd walked all the way up to it without paying much attention at all.

"Hoi! I'm sorry, I was lost in thought." I told her pleasantly. "I am Cloud Strife and am new in this lovely looking town." Leon had told me to be friendly... "Do you have rooms available? My friend will join me soon." Two rooms, or one? Hmm...

She smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Welcome to town, Mr. Strife. And yes, we have rooms available." Opening the hotel registry in front of her, she quickly scanned the page. "I have rooms three, four, six, and seven available. Three and four face the main street, while six and seven face the hills to the south." Glancing up at me expectantly, her pen hovered over the book.

Two or one... Why wasn't there just one remaining room available? Then I wouldn't have to decide. Sighing discreetly, I chose to be cautious. "Six and seven please, Miss...?"

She giggled and blushed. "Charity." Turning around she grabbed two keys from the wall behind her and held them out to me. "I'm Charity Townsend. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cloud Strife." Stepping back after handing me the keys, she gave me a quick curtsy and giggled again.

Taking the keys, I nodded at the window behind her, "Maybe you should open it some, Charity Townsend." I pointed at her cheeks, smiling, "It seems to be a bit warm in here." That was friendly. She was most likely overheating in that heavy looking dress of hers. Women were very brave to wear such elaborate costumes. "Is there a bath house?" I asked, "Oh, and would you like me to pay for the rooms now or when we leave?"

Giving me a puzzled look, she nodded. "There are baths for the hotel guests at the end of the hall that you can find your rooms on. And yes, please give a nights deposit now, and then each morning pay for that day." Smiling at me again, she added, "You may also pay in advance for however long you will be staying with us."

She was nice. "I'm not quite sure yet how long, but here is the deposit and I will pass by tomorrow morning to inform you of how long we will be staying." Handing her the money, I gave her a tip too, because I'm sure that was the friendly thing to do. "Thank you very much for the normal welcome into this town, Charity."

I turned around, about to walk out and get my saddle bags, but then remembered to tip my hat at her because at some point during our trip I'd asked Leon when I was supposed to tip my hat and... Dammit, I should have taken it off when entering the building. Oh well. Shrugging, I tipped it at her anyways and then walked out to get my stuff.

Once I'd gathered my items, I went back inside, giving Charity another smile because she gave me one, passing by her and then making my way to room number six, figuring Leon could take number seven. Opening the door, I walked inside, stopping in my tracks as a little lady seemed to be dusting off the furniture.

"Hoi!" I said pleasantly, letting her know I'd come in so I wouldn't startle her.

Turning around and giving me a curtsy, she smiled at me. "Please excuse me, sir. I'm just finishing the dusting of your room. I'm finished now, so please excuse me."

"Sure, that's okay, thank you." I told her, giving her a smile while I walked over to the bed, settling my bags on top of the wooden chest placed by the foot of it. I was going to love sleeping in that bed, I could tell just looking at it. But it would have been better with Leon in it. Maybe I could sneak into his room during the night... Giggling, she smiled and closed the door behind her as she left and I heard her footsteps quickly running down the hall getting fainter by the second.

Figuring I could go to the bath house later, I walked out of the room, locking it behind me and taking both keys of rooms six and seven, sticking them into one of my pockets before making my way back into the reception area. I'm sure Leon was hungry too and would know to find me in the dining area of the hotel.

Walking by Charity and the maid standing behind the reception desk, both giving me friendly smiles, I returned it, wondering if all people in this town would be so welcoming as I made my way passed them and into the dining area, seeking out a table that was in plain sight so Leon wouldn't miss me.

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><p><strong>Leon<strong>

Slapping the dust that I'd picked up on the way over here from my pants, I stepped into the hotel lobby and blinked to adjust my eyes to the dimmer light indoors. Sighing and fingering the badge I'd been given, I slipped it into my pocket, not ready for people to know who I was yet.

Walking over to the counter, there was two women giggling and talking quietly to each other. One was holding a duster while the other seemed to be the receptionist. Stepping up to the counter, I waited for a few moments, hoping they would notice me without me having to interrupt. I was tired and hungry and just wanted to know where Cloud was and what room he'd gotten.

"Ahem." I cleared my throat and put on a smile, hoping they wouldn't stare at the scar that was across my face. It was usually a topic of discussion wherever I went, and I was used to most people staring at it.

"And that hair, it's like he dipped it into gold or something." The one with the duster said.

The receptionist giggled, "I know! He told me he was very glad for the normal welcome I'd given him and then he smiled at me." She sighed one of those girl sighs...

"Did you see a ring on his finger?" The one with the duster asked then, "I didn't have time to see."

The receptionist shook her head, "No, I didn't see. But he said he'd come by tomorrow morning to tell me how long he's staying, so I'll check then." Clearing my throat again, this time louder, I held in a chuckle when I figured they were talking about my fair haired companion. Too bad they didn't really stand a chance with him.

The one with the duster heard me now, looking towards me. "Oh!" She blinked first, then fixed her eyes onto mine. "Hello, sir..." She murmured, her cheeks turning pink while giving me a smile. "I'm very sorry. We didn't mean to ignore you." She said quickly.

The receptionist nodded her head, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Apologies, sir." She gave the one with the duster a pointed look. "Talk later, Lilliane." She hissed before turning back towards me, offering me a smile. "How may I help you?"

"I'm looking for my friend that checked in earlier. His name is Cloud Strife. Have you seen him?" I figured I didn't need to describe him since they'd apparently been discussing him before I'd walked up.

She smiled brightly. "You're his friend! He's in the dining area on your left, sir." She pointed towards the room. "Excuse me, sir?" She caught my attention before I walked off. "Your friend isn't from anywhere near, is he?" She asked carefully. When I shook my head, she smiled. "If he ever needs a guide or help with the English language, could you tell him that I work at the town's school on Saturdays? I'd be happy to show him around and help him."

I just nodded, getting the feeling that she was hoping to catch Cloud's eye. "I'll let him know, miss." Tipping my hat at her, I quickly walked away towards where she had pointed Cloud would be. Walking through a doorway, I caught the familiar sight of Cloud's spiky hair as he sat near the window of the dining area, looking out of the window. Feeling a little pained, I wanted to be able to enjoy time alone with him again, but I sucked it up and went to sit down.

"Hey, how did the room thing go?" Grinning as I thought about the two women who he'd apparently impressed, I took a sip of the coffee he had ordered for me.

He shrugged, "Fine. The rooms look good." He pointed big blue eyes on me then, leaning socially acceptable closer towards me, whispering, "I took two for cautiousness." Leaning back again, he spoke at normal volume. "Did the marshal agree to help us out?"

Ducking my head, I stared down at my coffee cup, nervous about what I had to tell him. "Um, he actually wasn't any help at all." Just spit it out, Leon. He'll find out sooner or later anyways...

"Oh? How come?" He asked, frowning, "Are you okay?"

Rubbing the back of my head and looking everywhere but at Cloud, I finally decided to just say it. "There was no marshal. There hasn't been one for about a month since they buried the last one. The mayor, who I didn't realize was the mayor when I shared a drink with the guy, offered me the job." I totally blamed Cloud for making me more comfortable over the last ten days about talking to strangers.

"Didn't you say marshals don't live very long?" He squeaked out.

Finally meeting his gaze, I noticed the fear in his eyes and felt a little guilty. "Well, that's just relative to how violent a town is. This place isn't so bad. The marshal actually died of a fall from his horse. And it doesn't have to be permanent if it doesn't work out." I winced. That sounded ominous.

"Okay, well, just be careful." He murmured, "I don't actually like closing you up with hot blades, you know."

I cringed and resisted the urge to reach over and grab his hand, running my fingers under my hat and through my hair instead. "Yeah, well, I've never really done anything like this, but it's actually a quick way to get on peoples good side. And I did find some stuff out about who lives on your ranch."

I was surprised by the sudden big warm smile he gave me. "That means you're staying."

Giving him a small smile I nodded. "Yeah, looks like I'm staying."

"Good." He said. "Now, very nice new marshal of the town I'll be living in but don't remember the name of, what do we do?"

Taking a gulp of my coffee, I thought about it for a second. "I say we stick around town for a few days, meet people and feel out the situation. Apparently, it's two brothers that are squatting on your place, and they already have made themselves a nuisance in town. So, we just need to present the deed to the judge, and then I'll make out a warrant to take out there. Sound good?"

"Sounds good. Remind me to tell the girl in the lobby, Charity is her name, how long we will be staying, I think she'd prefer it if I paid in advance and we want to be friendly."

Biting my lip to keep from chuckling, I nodded. "Oh, what rooms did you get?" No need to point out that he'd made quite an impression on the poor young thing.

"Six and seven. I settled into number six because that one was closest and my bags were heavy."

"Sounds good." I didn't mention anything about having him sleep in my room. It would be nice, but he might not feel comfortable doing that while we were in a town. I'd miss his warmth. Noticing that the sun was settling itself on the horizon, I finished off my coffee. "Want to walk around town for a bit, or should we just settle into our rooms?"

"I want a bath." He whined. "I smell... And they have soap here." He added wistfully.

"Let's eat some dinner, and then baths and then bed. Tomorrow is a new day and we can start fresh in the morning."

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><p><strong>AN: Last chapter will be up tomorrow! In case you didn't hear, if you can guess the next couple in the pairing, we will send you a sneak preview!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Last chapter! Three people guessed right, so they get the first three pages of the new fic. The first chap of that comes out on Sunday. And for those who want to know, the next couple is...Roxas and Axel! WOOHOO! Anyways, thanks for playing:D **

**MATURE CONTENT AHEAD! *salute* Read wisely:D**

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><p><strong>Cloud<strong>

I'd convinced Leon to take a bath before me, making sure to tell him he didn't need to wait up for me and could just go to bed after he was done washing up. I refused to settle into my bed, feel the softness of it without Leon next to me. So, taking a bath after him helped stall some time, keeping me occupied while I waited for the hotel to become less busy so I could sneak into Leon's room. The hill view was quite amazing for a while.

When my hair stopped dripping with water and was only damp, that's when I decided to go out into the hallway, silently walking over to Leon's room, making sure nobody was there while I pushed the door open. Even if someone saw me, I doubt the person would instantly think I was going in there to give Leon a good night kiss and use him as a pillow, but I didn't want to screw anything up, so I was being cautious. Which is why I'd gotten two rooms to begin with.

Pressing the door softly shut behind me once inside his room, I peaked over to the bed, seeing Leon's sleeping form, leading me to smile as I tip toed my way over there. I wondered how long it would take him to realize I was here, I did know I wouldn't be able to climb into bed with him and surprise him, because the silly man was alert even while sleeping. I think I only managed to cross half the room...

"Did you get the rooms confused, Cloud?" Leon's voice was soft and full of humor as he rolled over and leaned up onto his elbow.

"No," I whispered back, walking the rest of the way, not bothering to tip toe anymore. "I waited a good measure of time in my room before coming into yours. I've been planning this ever since I got the two rooms." Crouching down beside the bed, I leaned onto the mattress. "Can I?" I asked, feeling shy for some reason.

"Get in here..." Whispering and scooting back against the wall, Leon opened the blankets to welcome me into his bed. I grinned, feeling a bit giddy as I climbed onto the mattress, sighing contently as he placed the blanket over me.

"Oh god..." I moaned, "I knew these beds would be amazing..."

Chuckling and kissing the back of my neck, Leon murmured, "What am I? Chopped liver?" His arm wrapped around me and held me close to his chest.

Twisting in his arms, I managed to turn so I was facing him. "I didn't try the bed in my room because I only wanted to try it with you in it." I told him, knowing how very unmanly that must be of me, but I don't think I could really care at this point. Shuffling closer, I loved the way his arms felt around me, and how soft his skin felt underneath my palm. I pressed my mouth against his neck, happily breathing him in.

"Cloud..." Moaning and shifting so his mouth caught mine in a soft kiss, he nipped a little at my lips. "I can't wait til we have our own house..."

"Our..." I repeated, lips moving against his, my stomach tightening in that good way it did whenever I was close to Leon. I kissed him, trying to keep it soft, but the fact that he said 'our' made me want to kiss him very deeply to show him how much I'd liked hearing that. And this was also very different... We'd only touched each other while in the stream. We were in a bed now. Would Leon still want to do those things even if we weren't in the stream? Maybe he was too tired. It had been a long day and tomorrow we had to do a lot of stuff. He probably just wanted to sleep. And the stream wasn't here...

Groaning, Leon surprised me by flipping me over so that I was on top of him, his fingers gripping and holding onto my hair and palming my butt at the same time. He slowly pushed his hips into mine, panting against my lips.

"This is new." I murmured, moaning softly as he created some more friction. Now, I'd never done any of this stuff, the things nobody talked about... I'd been with Klaus on an intimate level, but never had he touched me the way Leon did. He always went straight to the point. Straight to the point could be nice, but I was really enjoying that Leon wanted to do more than that and like me, wasn't talking about going straight to the point yet.

The library in the boarding house had a restricted section we weren't supposed to go into. They were books from foreign lands. I'd gotten my hands on one by accident... It came from Japan. I'd read some very interesting things that had made my head warm so bad, I hadn't been quite sure if I'd ever cool down again. Which is why I'd pushed it to the far back of my mind, never thinking of it again. That is, until now...

"Can't help it...You're amazing..." Still running his hands all over my body, he kept letting out small moans of pleasure. This man could melt me entirely with his words alone. Kissing him, I did it with care and fever, but then sat up, breaking the kiss so I could breath in, needing some air. I didn't stop our movements though, appreciating them too much. Palms flat onto his chest, I rocked my hips into his, my eyes hooding.

"Leon..." I moaned, his hands grasping my sides, encouraging me to continue. "Can I try something?" I managed to get out between pants.

"Yeah." He was panting as hard as I was, and the evidence of his excitement nudging up against my own. Swallowing nervously, I hoped to god he wouldn't freak out as I leaned forward, sliding down his legs some so I could press my mouth against his chest, placing soft kisses all over his skin, slowly making my way down. The book swore it felt very good, so I sincerely hoped it wasn't a lie or something only the Japanese could enjoy.

Moving my legs in between his, I managed to lie down onto my stomach, kneeling onto one knee while I slipped out my tongue, letting it slide down to his belly button, my left hand holding onto his hip, while my right settled onto his thigh, rubbing it softly while I let my kisses trail down below his belly button. I looked up quickly as I hooked my thumbs into the edge of his underwear, making sure he wasn't thinking me crazy.

His eyebrows were raised and he licked his lips, nodding his head. "I trust you..."

I gave him a smile and then pulled his underwear down, breathing in shakily as I prepared myself for what I was about to do. Averting my gaze from Leon's eyes as I wasn't sure I could do this while looking at him because this was all so very strange, and I couldn't be sure if he would like it, I let my right hand wrap around the base of his length, rubbing slowly.

Leaning forward, I grabbed some courage and then slipped my tongue out, letting it run up his length, moving up onto my elbows so I could swirl it around the tip of him, quickening the pace of my hand some before opening my mouth and slowly guiding him there, my lips wrapping around his dick. Okay, this was a little strange, but definitely not bad. Feeling somewhat reassured, I moved my mouth down his length, letting my tongue lick him, sucking gently.

"Oh shit, Cloud. That feels...ugh...amazing..." I felt his legs tremble as my mouth moved over and around him. Oh, that was good. Relieved, I relaxed, managing to quicken the pace with both my hand and mouth, opening my eyes so I could look at him and because it was hard to top the image of Leon so carefree, relaxed and very happy. I moaned, bobbing my head down on him faster.

Panting my name, his fists clenched the bedsheets and he was leaning forward, face spotted with a thin layer of sweat. "Cloud, it's coming..." He said quietly, almost unable to speak. Keeping my mouth on him, I sucked harder, squeezing him with my hand, moaning around him. His body stiffened beneath me, and I swallowed, continuing to do so when the liquidy stuff shot out of him.

This way we wouldn't have to worry about the bed sheets. It tasted a bit weird, but I could care less as Leon seemed to be doing very good, his member softening as I slowly released him, licking him softly, chuckling as his legs trembled every time I did, clearly very sensitive.

"It tasted very salty." I informed. He couldn't answer right away, as his pants filled my ears instead. Releasing the sheets from his clenched fists and slowly laying back down to relax completely, he sighed.

"That's good to know. I...I want to make you feel good too, Cloud. I've never felt this way with anyone before and it's all so new. But, " He slowly used his arms to sit up and scoot closer to kiss my cheek shyly. "I'm so very glad I met you."

Sitting up, I settled myself close to him, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Me too..." I murmured and then, "A Japanese book taught me that." I shrugged, "I'm not sure if I did it exactly right, but you seemed to like it." I grinned, rather satisfied with what I'd just managed to do.

"Yes, I did." In the dim light from the moon outside, I saw Leon blush. "You say," Gulp. "there's a book that taught you that?" He sounded very surprised and a little unsure.

I nodded sheepishly, "I wasn't supposed to read it. It was in the restricted section of the boarding school's library. But the guys dared me to go in there and get a book that is called 'Kama Sutra'." I ducked my head against his neck, grinning as I pushed us back down so we were lying on the bed. "The Japanese wrote it, showing the arts of..." Gulp. "Sex. Apparently these women called 'Geisha's' learn and then perform these arts on the man that... Well, they pay for it I assume."

Nodding slowly, Leon relaxed but not before sliding his hand beneath my underwear and gripping my dick in his hand. "I've heard of those. Not Geisha's, but they are saloon girls in America." Moving his hand up and down, he leaned in to kiss me. "Can I try that thing you did?" He asked nervously.

Grasping his shoulders, I kissed him sloppily, already gone in the sensation his hand was offering me. "Yeah. Yes, go ahead-" I moaned, "Okay..."

"Lay back." He instructed, and moved so that I could settle on my back and he settled on top of me, placing a kiss on my neck and mimicking my actions by trailing kisses down my body. Before he got to my underwear, he'd used his hands to pull it down. Removing them completely, he dropped them on the floor and only hesitated for a moment before settling himself on top of me and wrapping his hand back around me. "You ready?" I licked my lips, nodding my head, my fingers sliding into his hair, letting them rest there lightly.

"Okay. I'm ready." Licking his lips and sending me a nervous but determined look, he bent down and wrapped his lips lightly around the end of it. Humming, he quickly started licking and sucking, seemingly unable to get enough as his movements were quick and erratic.

My eyes widened, the tips of my fingers curling around his brown locks, thighs tightening and relaxing beneath him, a delightful shiver running up my spine. "Uh, oh, shit, that feels so gooo-" I moaned loudly, sitting up some so I could gently hold onto his head, my fingers stroking to his hair to keep on encouraging the wonderful movements he was putting on me. "I- Leon- You're so handsome..." I'm not sure how that came out, but it was true. "And sweet too." Yes. "I'm rambling..." I moaned out.

Panting harshly, I continued to blabber on lots of unfinished sentences that sometimes made sense, but mostly didn't, switching over to dutch by the time that rush was building up and my brain couldn't function coherently anymore. "Leon!" I warned quickly, body stiffening.

Refusing to move, he determinedly stayed put and swallowed every bit of what I released licking me as I softened. "Hmmm, that tasted different, but good." Smiling as he finally sat up and released me, he panted and waited for me to catch my breath.

"Leon..." I breathed, laying back, "Leon..." I repeated breathlessly, pulling him on top of me. "Leon." I chuckled, smiling. "That was very, very good..." I murmured, kissing him softly. "I'm happy I'm with you." I really was. "Not just because we seem to be very good at this type of stuff. I like being with you all the time. Even this afternoon at the dining table when I couldn't touch you, which was a tad irritating, but sitting with you is much better than not."

Settling himself next to me and pulling the covers back up around us, he sighed contently. "It is kinda hard, but as soon as we get the ranch back, we can do whatever we want, whenever we want. Okay?" Sounding a little sleepy, he nuzzled the side of my head.

"Okay." I agreed, pecking his lips softly, pressing myself closely against him. "Night Leon..." I murmured.

* * *

><p><strong>Leon<strong>

Waking up at my usual time, I smiled down at Cloud and gently kissed his cheek. Whatever it was that we had done last night had been amazing. I'd never heard about anything like that, but I guess it was a good thing that Cloud was an educated sort of guy. Quietly and carefully moving around on the bed, trying not to wake him up, I got out of bed and made my way over to my clothes and got dressed.

Grimacing at the star that was in my pocket, I sighed and pinned it to my chest. I'd never been a marshal before, but I'd heard it could be easy or it could be hard. With a town this size and this settled, I didn't really foresee a lot of lawlessness, but instead I figured there would be land and cattle disputes. It would be hard for an outsider to know who to trust, but it would also be a good thing to have an outsider to see the logic between disputes.

Taking one last longing look at Cloud, I shoved my feet into my boots and silently opened the door and went next door to Cloud's room. Better make it at least look like someone had slept in here last night. Quickly messing up the bed some, I glanced around and figured it looked good. His stuff was in here, it was just his body that wasn't. Grinning and leaving his room, I put my hat on and went down to the dining room.

On the way there I passed the front desk and didn't see anybody there. Shrugging, I figured that I'd talk to whoever was there later and work out us staying here for a week or so. After breakfast I was planning on going over to the marshal's office and check out the jail and see what sort of business needed to be resolved right away. It was on the opposite end of town the hotel was on, right next to the telegraph machine.

It was supposed make things easier when you had to send out warrant information. I also wanted to track down the mayor and see who the best candidate was for a deputy. Someone familiar with the town and everyone in it, preferably someone who wasn't connected to anyone and who could answer my questions. A deputy was a safe position as anything dangerous was usually done by the marshal or in a county, the sheriff. I should also find out who the judge was, as well as who to see about reporting to. Probably the governor or whoever was right under him.

Sitting down in the same spot Cloud and I had sat down yesterday, I spotted one of the girls from yesterday. Raising my hat to get her attention, I cleared my throat. "Can I get a cup of coffee and whatever is for breakfast please? And make it double for when my friend wakes up." Cloud usually didn't sleep very long past when I got up, so I was betting he would be right behind me.

"Yes of cou-" She tilted her head curiously, stepping closer before her eyebrows raised. "Oh! You're the new marshal?" She asked, smiling broadly, "I'll get you that breakfast right away, sir." She nearly walked away, but then turned back, reaching out to touch my arm. "My name is Lilliane, but you may call me Lilli." She blushed. "May I know your name?"

Smiling politely, I said, "Squall Leonhart. Nice to meet you." Tipping my hat in greeting I went back to staring out the window and watching the town come awake.

"I'm sure you will keep us very safe, marshal..." She murmured before giggling and finally turning to get me my coffee. Sighing, I dismissed her from my mind. I didn't need any type of distraction from moony females while I tried to settle into my new job. It paid a hundred dollars a month, plus whatever I spent on ammunition. Which was about twice what I would make as a cowhand and despite how rich Cloud said he was, we needed to play it smart and bring in money while putting the ranch back in order. If we ever got out there. I had the deed in my front pocket and it was going to go into the marshal's safe in the office for safekeeping. Whoever my deputy ended up being would have to help me find people who could help me oust those squatters.

Taking a sip of my coffee, I watched the general store open up and then the bank, followed by the seamstress. It seemed like such a perfect place to settle down. I figured I should write Tifa or send her a telegram informing her of where I'd be living for now. I'd let her know as soon as Cloud told me how much he wanted for half the ranch. Speaking of Cloud, I glanced around hoping that he'd finally rolled out of bed at some point.

I heard a cheerful female voice, "Are you sure? I won't mind just taking them and making sure they are clean by the end of the day." Cloud appeared in the dining room area's opening, the receptionist walking right beside him. His hair was sticking up in all directions, his shirt wasn't tucked in properly and his nose was crinkled as he stared at the girl.

"No, it's fine, thank you." He said.

"Really, Cloud? I can call you Cloud, can I?" He frowned, scratched his head, and nodded. "It wouldn't be an issue, it's a slow day." She pressed, giving him a warm smile.

Cloud yawned, "You know what, the moment my clothes need to be cleaned? I promise I'll come to you straight away." After giving her a sleepy smile, he walked away and came over to sit down at our table.

Once he was seated, he gave me a sleepy smile. "Maybe they don't pay her enough, hence why she's asking to do my laundry to earn some extra." I figured I'd keep it to myself about how she was obviously trying to get his attention and just let him wake up normally. Sipping my coffee, I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw the other girl, Lilli I think, coming over with two plates stacked with food.

Placing the plates before each of us, she didn't walk off right away. "Squall..." She said, placing her hand on top of mine before I could reach for my fork. Cloud nearly choked on his sip of coffee, his eye twitching as he looked up at the girl. She cleared her throat delicately, not looking at Cloud once. "I'd like to invite you and your friend for lunch this afternoon. Charity and I wish to tell you everything you need to know on the town, I'm sure being the new marshal that would come in handy."

I gently moved my hand out from under hers and politely tipped my hat. "We'll give it a try. I'm not sure what my schedule will be like, but thank you for the invitation." No, she was not being very subtle. I had figured that the Charity girl had her eye on Cloud, but now I was pretty sure that they both had their eyes on us. I needed to be polite, but distant and hopefully that would discourage her a little bit.

Blushing she nodded, "Okay. Well, we'll be here." Giving me a smile, she gave Cloud a quick peek and then walked back off.

"Squall?" Cloud asked, his eyes pinned in a glare on the girl's retreating figure.

Blinking, I looked at him in confusion. "What?" Why did he just call me Squall? He knew that I preferred Leon, and he had never called me that before.

He shook his head. "I didn't call you Squall, the prissy little twit just did though." He growled out.

"What?" I said again, surprised at the venom in his voice. "What is the matter with you? She asked me my name and I told her it was Squall Leonhart." Shaking my head in confusion, I wasn't quite sure what he was mad at. "She called me marshal before."

He scoffed. "I'm not mad. I'm jealous, you silly man." He said easily. "That little curtsy, and the hand on top of yours and the soft voice and the-" He fluttered his eyelashes, "Squall..." He imitated her voice. "Ugh, women." He growled out for a finish.

Glaring at him, I took a bite of my flapjacks. "Does that go for the Charity girl that was basically panting after you all morning? I've never seen someone so eager to get a man out of his clothes like her." I narrowed my eyes at him, I guess slightly flattered that he was jealous of her, but if I was honest with myself I hadn't been particularly happy to see her fawning over him. "Just ignore her."

"Charity?" He frowned. "She's not interested in me." He seemed very sure of this. "And I did ignore her. I didn't tell her to stop it, did I? I behaved, sat back and let her touch you and be all coy because if I were to push her back and tell her I don't want her or any other woman touching you, we might just end up getting shot at."

I rolled my eyes at his obliviousness. "Did you see her panting after me asking to do my laundry? No, she was following you around, batting her eyes." Sighing and running my hands through hair under my hat, I tried to gather my thoughts. "I guess we are going to have to get used to attracting women." Glancing at Cloud, I licked my lips. "Especially you."

He looked surprised. "That was flirting?" He asked. "Well, now I'm definitely not going to let her do my laundry." He chuckled, leaning forward, his eyes telling me he wasn't cranky anymore. "Why especially me? Have you seen you?" He whispered just loud enough for me to hear. "Good Morning, Leon."

Wanting to lean closer and run my fingers through his hair, but biting my lip instead, I glanced around and made sure those girls were in the other room. "You are one beautiful guy, Cloud. Your hair and eyes, they aren't that common around here." I'd be in competition with the entire female population.

I saw him gulp, the tip of his tongue slipping out and his pupils became bigger, which they always did when he looked at me before kissing me deeply. "I may be uncommon, but you're gorgeous... I'm very, very lucky." He murmured. "And now I'm going to eat my breakfast before I do what I'd really like to do to you."

We quickly finished breakfast, it was quite good, and I was just sipping the last of my coffee when I saw Charity come back into the room, licking her lips while staring at Cloud. Oh man, this couldn't be good...

"Cloud?" She said the same way Lilli had said Squall, making me realize what Cloud had been jealous about. Wiping his mouth on a napkin, he looked up at Charity smiling down at him.

"Yes?" He said.

"May I have the key to your room, I'm going to get your laundry now."

Cloud blinked, "But, eh... I'm pretty sure I told you that it wasn't necessary."

She giggled, placing her hand on his shoulder and tugging on his shirt to straighten it. "You're so funny. You did agree, don't you remember? You were so sleepy..." Reaching out, she flicked one of Cloud's locks of hair out of his face, blushing. "It kept me from seeing both your eyes." She excused herself. Cloud blinked again, opened his mouth, closed it and then quickly snapped his head to the side, giving me a panicked look with huge wide blue eyes. 'Help'. He mouthed.

Clearing my throat and placing my napkin back on the table, I stood up. "Thank you for the breakfast, and if you're going to be doing laundry, you can add mine in as well. Come on, Cloud. I need to talk to you at the marshal's office. Let's head out." I couldn't think of any way to politely decline having his laundry done, and I wanted to get him out of there and away from her as fast as possible. We needed a plan.

"Yes!" Cloud agreed happily with me, jumping off his chair and avoiding touching her as best he could. "The nice marshal here is going to help me get my ranch back." He said, backing away from Charity as I caught up with him.

"Oh! You have a ranch?" She asked with a glint in her eye that set off warning bells in both my head and also Cloud's as he wrinkled his nose.

"Shit." He muttered, quickening his pace as we marched out of the hotel. "I think the first thing you need to do as a marshal is get more men into this town so women don't feel the need to cling onto the ones that set foot in this place." He shuddered. "I hope she won't be all over me every time we walk into the hotel." He added.

I nodded. "Yeah, you aren't the only one who has someone eying them like a piece of meat." Pointing out the way to my new office, I nodded in greeting to the various townsfolk who stopped to introduce themselves to the new marshal. I always introduced myself as Squall Leonhart, reserving the nickname of Leon for my close friends. Which was pretty much Cloud.

"Leon..." Cloud started after I'd managed to get us out of yet another introduction. "You're the new marshal of this town."

Looking at him in confusion I nodded. "Yeah...and?"

"They are going to count on you for a lot of things. You're the one who they'll go to when there is a problem." He pointed out some more obvious. "Don't you want to come across as a friendly person? Someone they can come to without feeling like they are bothering you?"

Unlocking my office, I stepped inside and held the door open for him. Thinking a little about what he said, I figured he had a point. Grumbling, I nodded. "I guess." Hanging my hat up, I walked over to my desk and dusted off the chair before sitting down. "I thought I was being friendly. I shook their hands." I must have been whining because he smirked at me.

"Yes, you did." He agreed. "But you have this way of looking at people that makes them feel like you don't have time for them." He shrugged, walking over to the chair in front of my desk, sitting down on it. "I thought you thought me useless for a good while in the beginning of our trip. Not anymore, but there was that moment. I know you don't want people to feel uncomfortable, but I'm afraid you're going to have to learn how to smile without people poking it out of you..." He grinned at me, clearly having a great time telling me all of this.

Rolling my eyes at him, I stuck my tongue out and rested my feet up on the desk. "Fine. I'll try and be more friendly, happy now?"

"No..." He whined. "That silly maid and the receptionist. What are we going to do about them? I don't want girls to chase you around, or me for that matter." He snorted, "Especially because I don't seem to realize it to begin with. They might lure me into a marriage proposal without my knowing it!"

Laughing out loud, I quickly sobered at the thought. He was right. We needed a plan. "We need a plan. We obviously can't tell them the real reason we want nothing to do with them, so what else can we say?" Leaning my head back, I tried to think of any really legitimate reason a man would discourage a woman.

Cloud pursed his lips, "We could be impotent." He cringed at that. He shook his head. "Men wouldn't say that out loud. Too much pride."

"Yeah and besides, how would we know we were impotent unless we'd tried it with a woman already. And we'd have to be married for that to work." As I said that, I suddenly had the best idea. "That's it!" I yelled, dropping my feet to the floor and making Cloud jump.

"We publicly try it with women and somehow fake impotence after that?"

Sending him a look for how silly and gross that idea was, I shook my head. "No, we say we're already married. We'll be married men. Off limits to other woman."

His eyes widened. "To each other? They'd kill us!" He shrieked, and then shook his head as he seemed to realize he wasn't using his brain. "We'd just have to pretend to be married to some random women, right? Because I don't really want to marry one..." He crinkled his nose. "Won't it be strange if they aren't with us?"

"No." My brain was quickly forming a plan. "No, we say that they're back east. They couldn't come west right away because of their health. And maybe, we'll go back east in a few months saying that we're going to visit them or something. They never come out here and we only visit. Make sense?" It would be perfect.

"Yes. But where would we actually go when we supposedly go east to visit our unhealthy wives? Is there-" He jumped up now, "Oh! Rings! we should get rings and that will show women instantly they don't even have to bother at all whatsoever!"

"Yeah. We can just say they were in our bags or something. And we really don't have to go anywhere. We can just stay out at our place for a few weeks." Closing my eyes, I tried to picture actually being out at our place...it would be nice.

"Our place..." Cloud sighed contently. "Okay, stop looking like you do, because your office has windows." He nudged his foot into mine. "We need to deal with this ranch issue quickly so we don't have to sneak around all the time."

"It's on my to do list for today. I promise." I winked at him. "I gotta talk to the mayor about some things, so I'll meet you for lunch at the hotel. Sound good?"

"Godsamme. Yes, okay. I'm not going back to that place without a ring though, so I'll go get us those and maybe just walk around and make nice. I'm your friend and the people know it, so if I'm friendly, they'll automatically believe you are too and so I'll help you with that until you learn how to smile." Straightening his shirt, he winked at me. "I'm giving you an imaginary kiss."

"I'll take what I can get." Smiling at him, I decided to get going on that ranch problem.

* * *

><p><strong>Cloud<strong>

After leaving Leon's office, I walked down the street, not quite sure where I would need to go to buy rings. I'd gotten caught by curiosity though, staring into every shop window and deciding I'd do like I told Leon I would, helping him out by making nice with people. The first place I went to was the bakery and that is where I got to say that I'm married for the first time ever.

"No Ma'am, I'm very much married."

The old lady behind the counter sighed, "Oh well, it was worth a shot, no one wants to marry my granddaughter."

I grinned. "I'm sure she's lovely. Give her some time and she'll find the right guy on her own."

"Aren't you sweet. Where did you come from?" She asked, handing me a piece of bread she'd made this morning with seeds she'd just purchased and she really wanted me to try a bit of it.

"The Netherlands, Ma'am. I'm here to take over my uncle's ranch. Strife ranch, five miles away from here? Me and my friend, he's the new marshal in town, got shot at by squatters."

And those were the things I repeated in almost every store because I was great at making conversation. The lady at the bakery hoped her granddaughter would marry soon so she wouldn't have to worry about her anymore and possibly retire. The seamstress was seven months pregnant.

"Squatters?" She shrieked, horrified as she sewed a button back on my shirt sleeve. She'd wanted to do that herself, I hadn't asked her or anything.

I nodded. "Yes! Terrible, isn't it? Would you happen to know who they might be?" I asked.

The seamstress didn't know, but the forger did.

"They're brothers, nasty little fellas. You'll need a marshal." The man told me in his deep voice, showing me some of the latest personal items he'd forged together.

"My friend is the new marshal." I let slip again. "Do you happen to make rings?"

And that's how I got us fake wedding rings to solidify our fake marriages with women back east. I went to the livery stable as well, knowing what that's what it was now and deciding Arrow and Kalinka would most likely be more comfortable here instead of tied to the post in front of the hotel. I just looked at the place though, wanting to ask Leon's opinion about it first, plus, there was no way I was moving Arrow myself. Big, mean looking stallion.

Armed with a guise and proof, I decided to go back to the hotel, figuring Leon would join me there soon as he'd most likely be hungry for lunch like I was starting too. Stepping inside, I fingered the ring in my pocket, slipping it onto my finger as I made my way over to the reception where Charity was smiling at me in warm welcome.

Smiling back, I pulled my hands out of my pockets, placed my hands on the edge of her counter and gave her a somewhat innocent look. "So, apparently we'll be staying about a week. Here's the money to cover both mine and the marshal's stay." I handed her the money, trying to read the look on her face, hoping she'd caught the ring.

"You're married." She said. Okay, so I guess she had.

"Yes, Miss, I am." I told her, glad I tested that line on the baker, seamstress and forger before her to make sure I could pull it off.

"Thank you for the advance, Mister Strife." She said, dismissing me. I smothered a grin at her sudden coldness. This ring should be cherished... And I'd make sure it would. It was the perfect repellent. Mighty happy, I made my way into the dining area and asked the girl who'd flirted with Leon earlier if she could bring me some lunch and for Leon too. There weren't that many people here, and the table Leon and I had picked as our own, was available.

The door opened and I recognized the sound of Leon's spurs as he walked inside squinting in the dim light. He dusted his pants off and glanced around smiling as he spotted me and stepped my way.

"Hey, Cloud. Did you order us lunch?" He sat down and glanced around, checking out the people in the room.

"I did." I told him and then fished the ring out of the pocket, sliding it over to him discreetly. "Works like a charm..."

Chuckling, he slid the ring on and thanked the waitress when she put down some meat and potatoes in front of us. "So, got myself a deputy. An older retired gentlemen by the name of Cid. You'll like him. Swears like a sailor and has a giant white handlebar mustache." Taking a bite, he nodded at me. "What have you been up to?"

Eating some food off my own plate because I was hungry, I answered. "I've looked around town, talked to some of the people. The lady at the bakery wants me to translate this recipe book she got from her grandparents. They were French. She also told me to tell you she's glad you took on the job and is very grateful." I chewed up some more food. "The seamstress says she'll make you some gun holsters after you come by to let her take your shoulder measurements and the forger wishes to talk to you about this issue his son is having with his neighbors."

He blinked and took a drink. "Wow. You got all that? You're really good at meeting people." Moving the food around his plate, he paused. "So, did you hear anything more about the squatters?"

I frowned, "Some. They're brothers and apparently quite rude. The people in town let them be because they threaten them when they stand up to them. They don't sound very nice at all."

He licked his lips and nodded. "That's what I've heard as well. I'm hoping that we don't have trouble with them. But I'm thinking that it might come to that. I plan on heading out there this afternoon as marshal to see if I can reason with them. If not, well, I'm hoping they'll listen."

"I'll come with you." I said instantly, not liking the hesitation he'd put there. "If they try and shoot again, I'll be there to help you out. I don't like guns, but I never miss when necessary."

"Cloud, I can't let you do that." Giving me a hard glare, he shook his head. "If something happens, you need to be safe. I'll take Cid and the mayor. We'll outnumber them and be peaceful."

"And I have to stay at the hotel and just hope you're right and things will be peaceful? It's our ranch, Leon, our being the keyword here. I'll be good, I promise. I won't get in your way or be a burden." I crossed my arms. "Animals? Sure, I'm not very good with them. But I'm good with people. People don't scare me."

Rolling his eyes, he patted his chin with a napkin. "Fine. Fine!" Sighing in defeat he looked a bit angry. "I'll be in my office. Come by in about an hour with your horse and we'll get going." Without a backwards glance, Leon grabbed his hat and was out the door before I could respond.

Mouth open, I let out an indignant sound, not happy he'd just walked out of here. Grumbling, I pushed my plate away, not hungry anymore. Silly man. I was just worried about him and couldn't just sit here and wait till he would be back. It wouldn't harm him to have me with them. I wasn't bad with a gun. And I really needed to prove to him I wasn't completely useless and that I wouldn't always screw up in tense and important situations such as the one we were getting ourselves into this afternoon. Sighing, I got up and went to room number six, deciding I'd just lie on the bed and do nothing for the next hour.

* * *

><p><strong>Leon<strong>

Stomping back to my end of town and into my office, I slammed the door shut, rattling the shutters in the process. What was wrong with me? Just the idea of Cloud going with me and getting into any kind of danger had spiked my heartbeat and not in a good way. He shouldn't even think about going out there after the way they'd shot at us.

It was hard enough to be thinking about the whole town and worrying about it, I didn't want to have to worry about Cloud's safety as well. He couldn't go with me. Nope. I was going to put my foot down and he was going to listen to me.

* * *

><p><strong>An Hour Later<strong>

"So, tell me there sonny, what part of Europe do you come from?" Cid was walking his horse ahead of me, along with Cloud and the mayor, chatting away as if nothing was the matter.

"The Netherlands. It's said we're very stubborn people and know exactly what we want." He pointed a raised eyebrow at me. Rolling my eyes at him, I just listened as Cid laughed and chatted with Cloud as we followed the trail out to Strife ranch. It did seem as though Cloud had the gift of gab. Both the Mayor and Cid were already more comfortable around him than they had been with me. I tried not to glare at him in annoyance

"You got yourselves a great marshal. He took a wolf bite for me." Cloud said. "He's not afraid of leeches either, and lets face it, he survived ten days with clumsy, unknowing foreigner me." He laughed, the mayor and Cid joining him into it.

He should not be allowed to be this great. Really. It was unfair of him. Finally admitting defeat in the face of Cloud's charisma, I took the lead and was happy to see the outline of the ranch house in the distance. Making sure that my marshal's badge was out front and that none of our hands were anywhere near our rifles, we slowly made our way towards the house.

"Okay, now first let me do the talking."

"HEY!" A shout came from the house. "Didn't we shoot you off our territory a while back?"

"Easy boys. I'm the town marshal and we'd like to have a word with you." Keeping my voice loud and strong, not giving the impression of backing down. Pointing at my badge we got close enough to see the first brother who was greasy and unkempt with yellow cracked teeth and a filthy shirt. "Relax, we need to talk to you about this here ranch." I couldn't tell the color of his hair under his hat, but he was about two hundred and fifty pounds of mean and tough cowboy not looking happy to see us.

He eyed me up. "We shot the last one. I'd quit if I were you."

"He's lying." The mayor assured.

"How can you be sure?" He returned, grinning widely, showing us all his missing teeth.

"Because there weren't any bullet holes, you jackass." Cid butted in.

"Hey! What the hell is going on down there?" Another shout and the other brother made his appearance. As nasty as the first one, this one had a wicked scar along the side of his face and I wondered why he seemed familiar all of a sudden. Shaking my head, I dismounted from my horse and walked forward, glad at least that my height matched theirs. "I'd like to see the deed proving your ownership of this ranch." Authority. I was the authority here and they were breaking the law.

He spat on the ground a few feet from me, and I was glad that the others were staying on their horses. "Don't need a deed. We own this ranch, so get the hell off our property."

"He's a liar. too." Cloud said to the mayor, pointing at the other brother.

I crossed my arms and leaned forward. "That's the rightful owner. So, unless you have a deed disputing his, then this isn't your property and I'll be happy to escort you off of it. How does that sound?" I was itching to wipe the floor with him. This was mine and Cloud's property, not theirs.

"Him?" The taller of the two laughed, staring at Cloud. "The cows will die and the crops will dry out. He don't own this ranch, you own a ranch when you know how to take care of it."

"Hey!" Cloud said, dismounting Kalinka so he could come to stand beside me. "What I can and can't do is none of your business. This is my property and if I want to let my cows die and my crops dry out? Then I can damn well do that. Now stop going up against the law and making your case worse than it already is and get the hell off my land."

Cloud. I wanted to turn and glare at him, shaking my head. Instead, I simply nodded, still looked at the scarred one, trying to place him. "Gentlemen, we want to resolve this quickly and quietly. So, unless you can produce the correct deed, then I'm afraid I'm here to escort you away."

Sending me a glare that would probably have frightened small children, he was about to say something, but thought better of it as Cid, still on his horse, cleared his throat.

"I wouldn't think about it, sonny." Which caused the brother's features to twist into a sneer. And that is when it clicked.

"You're Martin Bishop." Focusing on the scarred brother, his facial features matched the sketch on the warrant in my office, telling me he was indeed Martin Bishop, I didn't have time to spring into action to arrest the man because...

"Godverdomme!" Cloud pulled his gun out, letting a bullet fly which knocked the rifle the other brother had revealed out of the way, falling out of the man's hands. Cloud then ducked so he wasn't blocking me to aim my gun at Martin Bishop, who by now was about to pull out his own gun.

Time seemed to slow down and as the muzzle of his gun cleared leather, I dropped my hand to my gun and prayed that I was indeed faster than most people like my last boss had informed me. He'd warned me not to push my luck and tangle with anyone in my old town as I'd most likely beat them and be run out. So as I brought my gun up parallel to the ground, I could only hope that he was right.

Squeezing out a shot, I felt something slam into my gut and I got off two more shots in the confusion that followed. Red bloomed on his shirt and I saw his body jerk as my bullets slammed into him. Dropping to his knees in front of me, he looked surprised before his eyes rolled up and he fell forward.

"Martin!" The other brother shouted, running over to him.

Cloud appeared before me, looking worried. "Leon? Are you okay? He shot a bullet. Did you get hit?" Dropping to my knees, suddenly out of breath, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. Gasping and coughing, I was trying to get enough air to speak. It sure felt like I'd been hit.

"Leon!" Cloud shouted, quickly kneeling down so he could hold me up. "Cid, make sure he doesn't get away." Cloud pointed at the brother holding onto Martin who was very much dead. "Where were you hit?" Cloud asked me frantically, helping sit down on the ground properly.

Pulling at my shirt, still trying to speak, I looked down. I'd felt it low and as I searched frantically for any sign of blood, I noticed my cartridge belt. Two bullets were fused together with a fragment of the third one. Oh thank god.

Gasping again, I finally filled my lungs. "Shit." Pant pant. "That hurts like hell."

Cloud leaned in closer, "Yeah? Wait till I kick you like the worried lover I am right now for putting yourself in danger like that." He hissed, backing off and then sighing in relief. "He's okay!" Cloud said, looking over his shoulder at the Mayor and Cid who were holding onto the one brother.

"Yeah." Looking up at Cloud's worried face, I smiled. God, he was beautiful, wasn't he? I was such a sucker for him and this just proved it. Leaning over on my hands, I took a deep breath as I stood up. Trying not to think about the man I'd just had to kill, I gave the mayor and Cid a thumbs up. "Let's get him out of here. We'll ship him to the capitol for prosecution. His brother was wanted, he probably is too."

"You alright, boy? That's a helluva lucky hit. Shit!" Laughing and escorting the brother to his horse tied up in the yard, they got him on there and started back to town, leaving us to get settled. We were the rightful owners now...or Cloud was.

"They're gone, right?" Cloud said, squinting in the general direction in which the others had left at. When I nodded, he glared at me. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Grasping my face, he pulled me down some, kissing me fiercely.

"Wow." Out of breath for a different reason now, I let me eyes close and think of only the kiss for a few minutes. Finally pulling back, I smiled down at him. "Hey, you're a ranch owner now. Wanna take a look around before heading back to get our stuff? Let's see how they've left the place."

"Hey." He said softly, making sure I didn't move away just yet. "It's your ranch too, you know."

"Oh yeah. Well, I haven't officially paid for it yet, so it's still all yours. But if you still wanna share it with me, I'll take it." Giving his cheek a soft kiss, I threw and arm around his shoulders. "Let me know how much I owe you."

Walking up to the house, his arm came around my waist, his fingers toying with my shirt edge. "Maybe we could just throw all our money together? Consider all we have now and all we will make in the future to be our money and not just yours or just mine. Since we'll own this ranch together, I see no reason why we would separate our resources as we'd both tap into it to bring this place back in order."

"You have the best ideas. No wonder I love you." As soon as I said it, I was glad I had. It made sense. Even if I didn't know every little thing about him, I felt so connected to him, and I never wanted to let that go. We could figure everything out together. Here, on our very own ranch.

I was about to reach out to open the door, but Cloud stopped me. "Wait, you love me?" He asked, moving so he was standing in front of me. "Just like that?" He breathed.

Smirking at him, I nodded. "Was it supposed to be hard? I mean, you were making it rather easy from day one." Reaching up to cup his jaw, I stared into his eyes. "Is that okay?"

"Easy." He murmured, his hands coming up to rest again my neck. "Yes, that's okay." He smiled, holding onto me as he kissed me softly. "You know you're the first person ever to tell me that. My family didn't-" He kissed me again, cutting off his sentence. "I love you too." He said against my lips.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading, hope you stick around for the next one!**


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